25 Jun 2008

other men's flowers

G126 co-founder Ben Geoghegan at the Hugh Lane:



26 June - 5 October 2008

Curated by Michael Dempsey
Head of Exhibitions

Behind the proclaimed ‘tabula rasa’ of modernism, where Avant Garde artists of the early 20th Century denied the past and viewed themselves as the original inventors of radical new ways of seeing the world, there lies a more complex truth. Before clearing the way for their theories to emerge these artists had in fact looked intensely at the art of the past through national and private collections and absorbed their lessons well.

Art critic Robert Hughes elucidates how artists by looking at great works of Art extract either lessons of relevance for their own work or by wrestling with the tradition, they ingest it, and transform it into something of their own making.

The art of the past has always been a resource for artists. Advancing the ‘new’ and establishing a position in the long history of art requires an intimate knowledge with that tradition.

‘other men's flowers’ includes early drawings and paintings by Frank Auerbach and Leon Kossoff from the Tate collection and some works from our Francis Bacon Archive that have never been publicly viewed before. Also included are works by Jeff Wall and Patrick Graham that reference art history and new works by Ben Geoghegan and Brian Fay dealing directly with the Hugh Lane collection.

www.hughlane.ie