One of my favourites so far was the resonant and touching German Pavilion,’ Ruin’
The exhibition carries added poignancy as Henrike Naumann died earlier this year. Her work was completed posthumously by her studio.
The distinctive mint green is the same used in a former Soviet Barracks in East Germany. Furnishing it as a domestic environment with reconstructed and distorted interiors draws on late GDR and reunification-era domestic settings.
By furnishing the space, she strips it of its power. Chair reliefs, injured curtains, hieroglyphs, a living room in New German Design inspired by miniature farmhouse dioramas, and a reinterpreted socialist realist mural converge to form ‘The
Home Front’.
Sung Tieu intervenes across both exterior and interior spaces. The façade is entirely re-clad in a monumental trompe-l’œil marble mosaic depicting a prefabricated GDR housing block, constructed from over three million tiles, even recreating graffiti in mosaic.
Sung Tieu’s mosaic depicts the ruins of a prefabri-cated socialist housing block in Berlin, the artist’s childhood home and once a central dormitory for Vietnamese contract workers in East Germany. The mosaic also evokes the tiled façade of the “Sunflower House” the site of Germany’s first post-war pogrom in 1992.
Inside, Tieu extends her practice through restrained sculptural and archival interventions focused on systems of governance and the body. Sound, documents and administrative fragments map how migrant lives are processed through measurement and classification, including references to recorded bodily data such as neck and wrist measurements drawn from official records linked to her mother. These elements turn the interior into a space where biography is filtered through bureaucratic structures.
Curated by Kathleen Reinhardt, Ruin unfolds through distinct yet resonant interventions: the façade as a public inscription of migration and architecture, and the interiors as layered spaces of domestic life, administration and memory
@kathleen.reinhardt@sungtieu@henrikenaumann
High Drama and gothic overtones at the @fondaziondriesvannoten in ‘The only true protest is beauty’ inspired by activist Phil Ochs ‘the title frames beauty as a catalyst for provocation and transformation’ presenting #hautecouture from #christianlacroix and #commedesgarcons with exceptional craftsmanship from a number of artists including ceramic artist #kaorikurihara in the extraordinary Palazzo Pisano Moretta. Nice to see the man himself being interviewed for TV while I was there.
Wonderful to see all the enteries flooding in for The Merrion Plinth prize. Remember today is the last day (midnight) to enter!
Above is the great ‘Woman in White’, painted by #louislebrocquy in 1951 which is in the collection at The Merrion Hotel. It is painted the same year as ‘The Family’ which hangs in the National Gallery of Ireland which is considered to be ‘central to historic debates on modernism in the Irish context’. See part of the fascinating history of this painting included here from ‘Field Day Review 7, 2011 by Lucy Cotter.
@merrionhotel@patrickmurphy9182
A reminder: 4 Days left to get you entry in for the Merrion Plinth Art Prize!
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The 5 Star Merrion Hotel biennial Art Award: “The Merrion Plinth” aims to support contemporary artists and bring their work to new audiences. The winning selection will be exhibited alongside some of the great Irish artists that are part of the Merrion Hotel collection. The finished work is not limited to a plinth only but the area it would occupy and/or a wall close by. Details are available on merrionhotel.com
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€5,000 Award to the successful artist
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OPEN to all professional artists resident in Ireland, Northern Ireland and the UK
Closing date 24th April, 2026
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Submissions must adhere to artwork specifications and terms and conditions
Judges:Lochlann Quinn, Chairman, The Merrion Hotel
Patrick Murphy, former Director, RHA, Dublin
Oonagh Young, Director, Oonagh Young Gallery.
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Image: William Scott ‘Frying Pan, Funnel, Eggs and Lemons’ from the Merrion Hotel Art Collection.
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#contemporaryartist visualart #artaward #artprize #contemporaryart @merrionhotel@patricktmurphy@frieze_magazine@visualartistsireland@irishartsreview@art_monthly_uk
In honour of #worldartday we are extending the submission deadline to Friday April 24th for the Merrion Plinth Award! Get your entries in now!
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The 5 Star Merrion Hotel biennial Art Award: “The Merrion Plinth” aims to support contemporary artists and bring their work to new audiences. The winning selection will be exhibited alongside some of the great Irish artists that are part of the Merrion Hotel collection. The finished work is not limited to a plinth only but the area it would occupy and/or a wall close by. Details are available on merrionhotel.com
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€5,000 Award to the successful artist.
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Submissions must adhere to artwork specifications and terms and conditions and are available on Merrionhitel.com under Art at the Merrion.
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Judges:Lochlann Quinn, Chairman, The Merrion Hotel.
Patrick Murphy, former Director, RHA, Dublin.
Oonagh Young, Director, Oonagh Young Gallery.
Image from The Merrion Hotel Collection: ‘Madonna and Child’ Maine Jellett (1897- 1944). Reputed to be one of the first artists to exhibit complete abstract paintings in the country after she returned to Dublin from her studies in Paris in 1923. Over the following two decades she was influential in encouraging modernism, her efforts culminating in the formation of the Irish Exhibition of Living in 1943, an annual exhibition which provided a public showcase for artists who were pursuing modernist tendencies.
@merrionhotel@patrickmurphy9182 #contemporaryart #contemporaryartist #artawards
The Merrion Plinth Award is happening again this year! Some eagle-eyed artists have spotted the ad in the current issue of the VAI as entries have begun to arrive.
The aim of this award is to support contemporary artists and bring their work to new audiences. The winning selection will be exhibited alongside some of the great Irish artists that are part of the Merrion Hotel collection. The finished work is not limited to a plinth but can be wall based also. See the new edition of the VAI for the advertisement or visit /the-merrion-plinth/ for details and the application form. Closing date is April 17th.
We look forward to receiving your entries. Link in bio.
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#merriotthotel @merrionhotel #merrionplinth #contemporaryart #artawards #instaart
artprize artaward contemporaryartaward artoftheday artlover @visualartistsireland visualartistsireland patricktmurphy @frieze_magazine@visualartistsireland@irishartsreview@art_monthly_uk@contemporaryartcurator@artnews@artnet@art_matters_ireland
Happy International Women’s day! Thanks to @anpostofficial for this video of the launch of the new stamps celebrating these inspirational women medics. It was an honour to design these and thanks to my brother Gavin and his wife Ann for permission to use my wonderful niece Ciara’s ultrasound for Rhona’s stamp.
Delighted to have designed this series of stamps for #internationalwomensday 2026 for @anpostofficial featuring 4 remarkable women who have significantly contributed to and improved women’s health in Ireland.
“ Following reform of the Medical Act in 1876, women in Ireland could become qualified medics.
In 1877, the King and Queen’s College of Physicians in Ireland (now the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland) became the first institution in Britain and Ireland to allow women take licensing exams, followed in 1885 by the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland. Despite limited opportunities, and widespread discrimination, women medics made great strides thanks to women like Dickson and Lynn. In Ireland today, about 40% of doctors are women.
This set of four stamps honours:
• Doctor Emily Winifred Dickson (1866-1944), who in 1893 became the first female Fellow of the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland.
• Doctor Kathleen Lynn (1874-1955), who in 1919 co-founded St. Ultan’s Infant Hospital, managed entirely by women.
• Professor Janice Walshe, Consultant Medical Oncologist and National Principal Investigator for many international breast cancer trials.
•Doctor Rhona Mahony, Consultant Obstetrician and Gynaecologist, and Fetal Medicine Specialist. From 2012-2018, first female Master of the National Maternity Hospital.” (An Post)
Sourcing imagery for a series of stamps, particularly when they span more than a century apart, is notoriously difficult. But it was wonderful to use an ultrasound scan of my niece Ciara (now 17) on Professor Rhona Mahony’s stamp. Last image is Rhona with Ciara at the launch of the stamps.
Thank you to all in A Post and to the Stamp Design Advisory Committee.
#stamp #postagestampdesign #philately #womenmedicine
Very happy to have designed this stamp for @anpostofficial celebrating the remarkable Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty who became known as ‘The Vatican Pimpernel’ during the second World War. He saved an estimated 6,500 Jews, prisoners of war and resistance fighters by smuggling them out using many disguises and a large network of convents, monasteries and ordinary Italian homes while under constant threat of arrest and execution.
Called the ‘Irish Schindler’ he received many honours from the UK, USA, Italy and Israel yet remained very humble.
I found the image featured on the First Day Cover that shows him greeting General Mark Clark and American troops in St.Peter’s Square after the liberation of Rome in 1944.
Despite a 1980s film ‘The Scarlet and the Black’ starring Gregory Peck, he remained largely unknown.
It is great to see that his extraordinary life has inspired author #josephoconnor to write 2 books (so far) ‘My Father’s House’ and the recent ‘Book of the Year’ winner ‘The Ghosts of Rome’ that fictionalise the remarkable bravery of O’Flaherty.
It was an honour for me to work on something that celebrates courage and humanity. His life stands as a powerful reminder of compassion in action.
Thanks to @anpostofficial and all on the Stamp Design Advisory Committee.
Available now in all good Post Offices!
#postagestamps #postagestampdesign #philatelia #hughoflaherty #vaticanpimpernel
Delighted to have designed this book celebrating the extraordinary work of @patricia_hurl for @immaireland . “Irish Gothic” was an exhibition “spanning four decades of Hurl’s powerful and deeply personal work, exploring themes of gender, domesticity, and emotional resilience.” Originally presented at IMMA, the exhibition was then launched in @irishartscenter New York where it is currently running until Jan 18th.
This is the first publication of @patricia_hurl ’s work “marking a long awaited and significant moment in the artist’s career. This volume offers archival material and critical texts and reflections on Hurl’s practice from Jennifer Higgie, Catherine Marshall, and Fionna Barber, and an interview with the artist. This marks a major milestone for Hurl and a celebration of her legacy on an international stage.”
The book is available at IMMA and at the Irish Arts Centre NY.
Thanks @joannemullin . #artbooks #contemporaryartwork #contemporaryartbook
You are welcome to join us at the closing of Adrian O’Carroll’s exhibition in the gallery from 5pm in the Gallery on Friday the 19th of December.
Included here is a copy of essay available in the gallery hand-out by curator and writer Iwona Blazwick. Formerly at the Whitechapel Gallery, Tate Modern and ICA London, she has curated numerous shows of modern and contemporary art around the world. She is lead curator for Wadi AlFann, Arts AlUla. Blazwick was founding editor of Phaidon Contemporary Artists monographs and Whitechapel Gallery/ MIT Documents of Contemporary Art. She has written extensively on the art and artists of our time.
It’s your last chance to see this wonderful show.
@ocarrolladrian #contemporaryart #contemporaryphotography
