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> Holding on to the Outside - Exhibition
of work by Tony O'Malley |
Holding on to the Outside - Tony O'Malley
Paintings and Gouaches from the McClelland Collection
An exhibition of paintings and gouaches by the renowned Irish
artist, Tony O'Malley opens in the Riverbank Arts Centre on Thursday
27th of June next at 8.00pm. Tony O'Malley is one of the leading figures
in contemporary Irish art, having exhibited widely in Ireland and
abroad since the 1950's.
Tony O'Malley was born in Callan Co Kilkenny in 1913.
Self-taught as an artist, O'Malley had been drawing since he was a
child but only began to paint during his hospitalisation with tuberculosis
in the 1940s. In 1958 ill health caused his departure from the bank
and gave him the opportunity to devote himself full-time to painting.
![Artist Tony O'Malley](../images/tonyomalley-1.jpg)
In 1960 he moved to Cornwall, where a flourishing art community had
developed around the small sea-side town of St Ives. It was here that
he really found the freedom to paint without fear of censure or ridicule
- a very different atmosphere from that which prevailed in the Ireland
of the time. O'Malley remained in Cornwall until 1990 (apart from
periods spent in the Bahamas) when he, with his artist wife Jane,
returned to live full-time in Ireland.
The works included in the exhibition form part of a
larger body of work on loan to the Irish Museum of Modern Art from
the McClelland Collection. George McClelland played an important role
in developing the public profile of Tony O'Malley during the 1980s,
and has kindly agreed to the loan of these works to the Riverbank
Arts Centre.
The exhibition will be opened by Catherine Marshall
(Senior Curator with IMMA) at 8.00 pm on Thursday 27th, and will continue
until Saturday 27th of July. A television documentary on the life
of O'Malley will be on view in the McKenna Gallery throughout the
run of the exhibition.
Gallery opening hours are 10.00 to 1.00 and 2.00 to
5.00, Monday to Saturday.
For further information, contact Catríona Fallon
on (045) 448314, or e-mail us on
artscentre@riverbank.ie.