So we have decided to up sticks and head for the bright lights of Dublin. Actually I’m from Dublin so the lights aren’t so bright for me. We are locating next to Waterstone’s in Dawson Street, a good location for all intents and purposes.

Maybe not a good time for a new venture, but after I saw the place I felt this would be something special.

I noticed going through the galleries in London, how big they were, the private galleries that is. I was wondering how they could afford this. Anyway when the place came up, I thought maybe we could do something here and …..here we are.

On another topic entirely, a couple of weeks ago I popped into Gerard Mc Gourty’s studio. I am always fascinated by this artist.

I am not an art historian, but I have a reasonable handle on the art movements. Gerard’s work always reminds me of an artist in a serious art movement. He has forged out a style for himself, in my opinion unique, and he has made his canvas a wonderful exploratory machine, where he investigates different phenomena for himself. His topics can include early childhood, school days, current and past economics and history, romance. In other words the whole gamut of human experience, real and imaginary. So what do I particularly like about his craft. His light, opaque , pale colours which he uses sometimes. They are brilliantly interwoven, and if you pay close attention to his brushwork you will see a myriad of colours which he uses to achieve these effects. Oftentimes when artists go for too pale or subtle colours they can end up anaemic and uninteresting. There is a certain virility in Gerard’s pales, which when observed in a whole painting, makes me marvel at the variety he has used. 

I often have the pleasure of visiting people’s homes, who have bought work from Sol Art, and when ever I go back to a Gerard McGourty, people always talk of how the painting has grown on them.

Then there are Gerard’s characters or should I say caricatures. Sometimes they remind of Le Broquey’s tinker children from the thirties. Sometimes they have the naïveté of Daniel O Neil’s innocent big eyed females. Sometimes they are hardened characters who are hustling their way through life.

Gerard can then throw these characters together in different relationships and from there we get a good account of Gerard’s take on things.

What I like about him though is that it is pictorial and experimental. Gerard seems to be always working out his correspondences between the elements in his painting. In other words the picture or the narrative or the experiment, takes place with the paint on the canvas, the paint is like his mystic potion to see what picture will emerge. Sometimes he can work on a painting for years, to get the balance he is working for.

On top of that he is not limited by a linear real image. He can have several layers of images going on simultaneously which for me adds to the excitement of the work, which reminds me of Chagall. They are not orderly but can merge into one another which also gives the cubist effect.

To be honest I haven’t exhausted the themes in Gerard’s work(if there is a pattern to this?). I am slowly making a study of these. Suffice to say, you have a fair measure of kings and queens, chess boards, fences, school memorabilia, buildings, many balconies.

So what does all this mean?

I’ll leave it for another day.

My van just got clamped.

80 euro fine is all I need.

OK, OK. Dawson Street is a freeway from 4pm.

Last year we had an incredible amount of interest in the work of artist Jimmy Lawlor.
 A reaction like that gets you thinking about the merits of the artist and also the reasons why people are buying his work.
 Also because a gallery owner literally lives with the work of an artist, he has an advantage of seeing emerging themes in the work, discovering different levels on which the art works, and the advantage of sharing  the joy the art brings with admirers and the general public.
 

Several years ago, Sol Art linked up with Jimmy Lawlor and started to show his work in different exhibitions.
I had always been an admirer, but the opportunity to work with and for Jimmy has been a rewarding experience.
 
Last year, although hugely successful in Ireland, when we took the work out of Ireland, we began to see how powerful the work was.
It was at the Cambridge Art Festival and The Sol Art team were driving to the venue when we noticed that a lot of the signage promoting the show had images of Jimmy`s paintings on them. Then when we got to the entrance to the show,another of Jimmy`s
images was the feature painting on show.
Throughout that weekend, among the thousands who viewed our stand, many were taken with his work and several were sold.
The giggles, titters, belly laughs were in abundance when people stopped at his work.
The show organizers had fallen in love with the work as well, hence all the publicity images.
 
A little while later when in London, and discussing some of the Sol Art artists with fellow gallerists, one leading gallery owner stopped on Jimmy`s work and uttered ” now that is a seriously good artist” I was definetely encouraged, and then later when displaying his work in Manchester, Newcastle and Edinburgh, the result was the same. People kept stopping and appreciating his paintings.
This proved to me That Jimmy`s work crosses national divides.
There is something in his work which is universal.
 
So what is it the universal appeal?
If you ask Jimmy himself you will be more than likely greeted with a bemused stare.
“I just do the painting, others can do the talk” he replies with a smile in his eyes.
It reminds me of a folklore tale about a centipede who was a wonderful dancer, and an envious person wanted to disrupt his performance. Just ask him which leg he starts to dance with first and which leg second, the envious person`s friend said. So on being asked the question, the centipede became confused and could never dance properly again because he was too absorbed in the mechanics of his performance.
This will not be the case with Jimmy!
 
When I was in Edinburgh an American art critic stopped and we chatted for quite a while about Jimmy. We had four works on display, “Entertaining a Notion”, “Location, Location, Location”, “Encore” and “Paper Trail” ( which have all subsequently been sold).
We homed in on “Paper Trail”.
The first thing you have to say about Jimmy’s paintings is that they are brilliantly executed.
He is a very detailed painter. If you just took this as a landscape painting, there would be few to match it today in Ireland. The isolated mountainous scene, the heather in the bog, the stream meandering down from the hill, the mist rising. Fabulously done.
And then you have these little paper swans, floating down the river, all the way to the foreground. What does it mean?
Undoubtedly it is a clever idea, and a wonderful way to express a commonly used phrase which is the hallmark of Jimmy`s work.
As ever, it is humourous and the image just makes you smile.
Yet all of us know that in the world today, a paper trail, can be an absolutely onerous affair, albeit essential from a legal and business viewpoint. But how much does our slavery to these paper proofs, drain away from our very lifeforce, would we not rather be in the restorative realms of Jimmy`s mountain retreat, perhaps in the company of his very unthreatening childlike paper swans?

Location, Location, Location throws up images of pacing up and down Grafton st., looking at the billboards, Savilles, Lisney.., trying to find the best place to locate a new pressure cooker buisness. Forward on to Jimmy`s  image of same. A small girl in a wonderous pose, gazing at the huge snails which is her life (and more important to her than Grafton street and the likes). The snails shells are also the most important location for them!
So the question is, is this Jimmy, gently reminding us that our breakneck civilization is making us lose out on the simpler things around us which are essential for the human spirit?
Jimmy has a little “team” of ducks in the land around his house, which he always takes pleasure in showing me when I visit. One of them made their way into the painting called “Fusspot”. It’ a painting which everyone admires when they see it on my brochure, but for me it represents another recurring aspect to Jimmy’ work. After seeing that work, I now always see those ducks in a different way. They are a little civilization themselves in their own right, at least as important as any other on this planet. Also you will regularly see sea gulls in Jimmy’s work. I was crossing Capel st. bridge recently and a bunch of seagulls flew past. Again that same impression occured. It is as though Jimmy is saying, “open your eyes to what is around you, there are fascinating things happening here, but you could be missing them”. And of course Jimmy’s dogs are a regular feature in his work. “Pigs back”, you see the gentleman on the chair, looking over at the incoming pig, but in tandem you see the expression of the dog. The same thing with his cow paintings. There is a such an endearing representation of each of the animals that for me, points back to the previous important role animals had in different societies, in particular the native indian americans. They held that animals were essential companions to man, having a healing and restorative power to the human spirit.
And then again there are Jimmy’s people.
“Entertaining a Notion”. He is out on a rock in the middle of the sea, a sea thats probably rising, but he is playing for all that he is worth. He is thoroughly enjoying himself, he is dressed for the occasion, his audience is the ocean and the gulls. It is such a refreshing image.
Whats his reward? Just the sheer joy of playing. ‘Encore’ contains both the animal theme and the mans simple pleasure. And of course ‘Jam Session’. The dog is the audience. But the sheer excellence of the execution of this work is what impresses and of course the humour.
Some of work is, of course. just pure humour.
“Taking the Piss”. Brilliantly executed as ever and many other work besides.
 
Jimmy Lawlor to me is a very good investment artist. If his work takes off in America which i think it will, I think we will be adding a zero at the end of his current price. His particular pieces will be collectors items and people will try to get particular one`s for their collection. We regularly sell his work straight from our website, especially into the UK. People there are seeing his art investment potential. Even now we have a waiting list for his next work. So Don`t say you havent been warned….
Best wishes, Martin

21/22/23 August we were in Armagh. We had a cracking show. Plenty of bargainers there. One farmer in particular who bought Robert Harcus, “Cows in Winter”, a beautiful painting. There was some very good local talent, Jacky Connolly, Frances Mc Kenna and of course we were very pleased to have located a Brian Vallely before the show. Brian’s brother, Dara also exhibited some very original work  and Brian’s son Lorcan also had a piece which sold quickly. We were very impressed with new talent, Paul Digby. He painted very original figurative paintings, where feeling and emotion were represented by strong colour and exagerrated expression. There was a sense of rawness about them which was very appealing yet they still maintained a subtleness and deftness of touch. Lets see more Paul!
Now I am in Waterford on day three of the Fair. A bit slow at present but there is a strong interest in some Maderson’s which I hope will find new homes before the day is out.  Next up is Manchester. A little trepidation as we haven’t done it before. Anyway, a learning curve which will dictate which shows we do next year.
A fine room here in The Granville Hotel Waterford. There is natural light coming in from 6 large skylight windows. We had two special needs groups visit the exhibition. Art is a universal language. One boy with a speech impediment communicated to me how much he enjoys art and how much it means to him.
There are many artists and art clubs. It is good if they are all deriving enjoyment. Problem is when they expect to sell. Then a whole new dynamic occurs. Artists then have there eye looking over their shoulder looking to see who is looking on. A kind of measuring goes on which effects the art.
On the other hand, professional artists talk of the satisfaction they get when their work is sold. It encourages them and this is natural.  They have done the work . It is them. Now they are offering it to others. There is a difference from the former amateur I was referring to who is painting with delusions of grandeur in their head. Many artists I have spoken to have explained how although it is a wonderful life, it can be very solitary at times. The price that is paid to pursue their profession or dream. As in everything, nothing is easy  and anyone who is contemplating art as a profession because of tax issues, would soon be found out. And now even the high returns for art as a profession is being challenged by the current economic climate. In recent years, artists couldn’t paint quickly enough and many jumped on the bandwagon producing inferior paintings for high money. Those days are over. Worse still is that potentially good artists cannot get a foothold on the art ladder and either they give up entirely or they try to string their art along as a part-time occupation which inevitably effects the quality of their work or the speed at which they develop their style.
Just had a sculptor in there. Would be hard to transport sculpture as well. Maybe another day. Best wishes, Martin