Flynn launches 31st COE

Flynn launches 31st Claremorrris Exhibition

Austin Garvin

MAYO Fianna Fáil TD, Beverley Flynn officially launched the 31st Claremorris Open Exhibition on Saturday night last. The exhibition is truly international, attracting 260 proposals from 240 artists from as far afield as the UK, Germany and the United States. The final exhibition represents the works of 30 artists from at home and abroad.

More than any other exhibition COE has chronicled the evolving visual arts scene in Ireland and has reflected artistic movements worldwide. Over the last decade or so, each year artists from at home and abroad have brought to Claremorris new and innovative works. This year is no exception with the standard reaching an all time high.

A fine crowd turned up on Saturday night to attend the launch of the exhibition and to browse through the various works. The PRO of COE Mr Jarlath Burke welcomed everyone to the exhibition particularly the artists present. He also welcomed the Curator of COE 2008, Miss Lizzie Carey-Thomas, and Beverley Flynn.

Mr Burke referred to the input of Mr. Johnny Kirrane during his 30 years as Chairman of COE.

“I think it only fitting tonight to acknowledge that over the course of that time that he has presided over an exhibition that has evolved from what was a germ of an idea to being one of the top events in the contemporary Irish visual arts calendar, with both a national and international profile,”

Mr John Kirrane said it was a pleasure to welcome everyone to the Claremorris Open Exhibition. Mr Kirrane thanked The Arts Council, Mayo County Council, The Arts Council of Northern Ireland, the site and property owners, and sponsors involved in this year’s exhibition.

Referring to the Curator Lizzie Carey-Thomas he said, “The amount of time, energy and focus she brought to the selection process was an inspiration and we thank her most sincerely for her time and effort,”

Lizzie Carey-Thomas referred to the professionalism of the Clarmorris Committee. She said it was excruciatingly difficult to come to a decision on the winner’s such was the high standard of the entries.

Ms Carey -Thomas is Curator at Tate Britain and said she was struck by the similarity in remit between the Claremorris Open and the Tate’s Turner Prize, which was established in 1984 with the specific purpose of promoting new developments in British art to new audiences. She said it says something of John Kirrane’s foresight that the Claremorris Open predates the Turner Prize by seven years.

Before announcing the prize winners she commented on the difficulty she encountered in coming to a final decision, “The high standard of the work combined with the sheer volume of entries, over 260 in total, made the task of making a selection an intense and rather daunting prospect demanding three days of focussed concentration.”

Ms Carey-Thomas said she was awarding a joint first prize to Michael Fortune and Vukasin Nedeljkovic. In the emerging artist category she awarded the prize to Elizabeth Cleary. Finally she expressed the wish that COE would continue indefinitely.

Beverley Flynn said she was delighted to be invited to launch the Exhibition. She said COE had set the bar very high having opened in 1978 when there was little else happening outside Dublin.

She said she was delighted to see many young aspiring artists attending colleges entering the Exhibition.

“It’s a tribute to COE that you have attracted Lizzie Carey-Thomas as Curator, I notice that a lot of the previous curators have been women,” she added.

She referred to local artist Edward Delaney who was one of Ireland’s leading artist’s for many years and who was so admired by the late Charles Haughey.

Finally she said young people in the area grew up with the Claremorris Open Exhibition, as it had become part of the community.

The Open Exhibition is cited in various locations around the town and will continue until September 27. It’s definitely well worth a visit.