Brian Lalor’s Retrospective

Uillinn, West Cork Arts Centre until October 12

Robert and I were excited about doing this post since we first knew this project was going ahead, a couple of years ago. Sadly, I am the one who gets to write it, but happily Robert is in there too, since Brian dedicated the exhibition book to his memory. That’s the two of them, below, showing off some of John and Noelle Verling’s ceramics acquired for the Ballydehob Arts Museum.

I described Brian in a previous post as a National Treasure. Artist, engraver, printmaker, print collector, curator, writer, editor – he has done, and continues to do it all, and this retrospective captures a lifetime of his multi-faceted interests. Brilliantly organised around the theme of Place by curator Vera Ryan, it leads us from the Middle East through Europe to North America, dwelling of course on his own Home Place, West Cork.

The book has essays by Angela Griffith of Trinity College and Anne Hodge of the National Gallery, a lengthy conversation with Vera Ryan, and a short concluding note by Brian. That’s Vera interviewing Brian at the launch, below.

Through all of these we get to know Brian, his life, his travels, his training as an artist (but first as an architect and archaeologist), his collector’s eye – the honed observational skills coupled with a vivid imagination that allow him to produce works that are at the same time minutely accurate and wildly fanciful. As Angela Griffith puts it,

He is a meticulous recorder of life, nature and the human-made environment. But he is also an interpreter, as such he captures the cadences of these spaces, reveals or create mythologies, and interrogates the impact of humans on the land, past and present. Many times he finds the lyrical in his subject matter.

Printmaking has been at the core of Brian’s work. His fascination with printing techniques dates from a young age and led him to amass a fine collections of prints, chosen not for their subject matter but for what they can reveal about the art of printmaking. That collection is now in the National Gallery. He helped to found the fine art printmakers, Graphic Studio Dublin, the success of which and indeed Ireland’s printmaking tradition, is charted in his book, Ink-Stained Hands. 

The exhibition itself contains multiple treasures that I haven’t seen before, even though I was familiar with some of Brian’s work. His enormous prints of Jerusalem, Rome and Dublin dominate several walls. His whimsical series on Icarus and Daedalus (above) was new to me, as were his American prints.

His Book, Cork, has been re-issued in celebration of the exhibition, and it contains several new images, including this one (below) deemed ‘too depressing’ for the original edition.

And it’s not only paper-based. He has collaborated with master-ceramicist Jim Turner on a series of fired earth works, some of which are politically charged. He knows the Gaza Strip intimately, after all.

If you are anywhere near Skibbereen before October 12th, make sure to visit this exhibition. It’s worth travelling for too. If you just can’t make it, you can visit Brian’s website here, and you can order books and prints from Uillinn. Or contact Uillinn at info@westcorkartscentre.com or by phone +3532822090

All I can do here is give you a tiny flavour of what’s in store at this outstanding show. Below I am appending a list of posts written by Robert or me that are either about Brian’s work, or illustrated by his art. I was amazed when I went back and looked at how many Brian-related posts we had written about him over the years. Partly that’s because he and Robert worked so closely together on the Ballydehob Arts Museum, but mostly it’s because we have been so bowled over by his art and writing.

Brian Lalor posts

The Fertile Crescent – an extraordinary exhibition at The Blue House Gallery in Schull

The Fertile Crescent – A Review

An obituary for Lee Snodgrass, Illustrated with many of Brian’s drawings:

Lee Snodgrass and Mizen Archaeology

Bohemians in Ballydehob, about the Ballydehob Arts Museum

Bohemians in Ballydehob!

Ballydehob on Bahnhofstrasse – an account of a 1985 exhibition in Zurich by many of the core group of West Cork artists. 

Ballydehob on Bahnhofstrasse!

Church of the Angels, using illustrations from Brian’s sketchbook

Mizen Magic 19: Church of the Angels

A two-part review of the Book Cork, illustrations by Brian Lalor, poetry by Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin

Cork, Part 1: Brian Lalor

Cork, Part 2: Eiléan Ní Chuilleanáin

Several 12 arch bridge depictions by Brian in these two posts

The Twelve Arches of Ballydehob

12 Arches of Ballydehob – Pics for Christmas Day!

Review of West of West: An Artist’s Encounter with West Cork

An Artist’s Encounter with West Cork

Review of 36 views of Mount Gabriel, a 2022 Exhibition in The Blue House Gallery

Thirty-Six Views of Mount Gabriel

Brian’s Original sketchbook for his field trips around West Cork with the Mizen Archaeological and Historical Society was the basis for this post on Signal Towers.

Brian’s Sketchbook: The Signal Towers