Bridge Street Studios will celebrate its 30th anniversary with an exhibition, ‘The things that matter most are the things that can’t be seen,’ hosted at the Basement Gallery, An Táin Arts Centre, Dundalk. The exhibition opens on Wednesday February 25th at 7pm and runs to April 4th. It features work by eight artists and craftspeople including Orlaith Cullinane, Rachel Tinniswood, Mary Cowan, Suzanne Carroll, Caóilfíonn Murphy O’Hanlon, Orla Barry, Sarah McKenna, and Fiona Quigley. The exhibition serves as a testament to the importance of shared creative environments and how that can creatively sustain the individual’s artistic development.

A Fragile Line is an exhibition comprised of a number of interrelated pictorial, sculptural and installation elements. The work is visually spare and delicate, acting as a set of poetic observations on how we understand and relate to the more than human world.

Thursday 26 February – Saturday 11 April 2026.
Curated by Margarita Cappock.

Opening Night: Thursday 26 February.

Opening – 26 February at 6.00pm.

Past, Passing or To Come brings Cypriot artists into creative dialogue with artists living and working in Ireland drawing inspiration from Sailing to Byzantium by W. B. Yeats.

Participating artists are Christina Shiakola, Eliza Pieri, Mandalena Miltiadi, Manuel McCarthy Valderrama, and Vassilis Vassiliades.

The exhibition is made possible with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Ireland and with the funding of the Deputy Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cyprus, as part of the official programme of cultural actions marking the Cypriot EU Presidency.

This exhibition of paintings and mixed-media sculptures by Bennie Reilly draws on her interest in museum collections, natural history, and her own interactions with the natural world. Her paintings stem from an ever growing archive of personal photographs, while her sculptural works combine bric-a-brac and natural artefacts collected over many years. Together, these artworks celebrate the oddities and allure of nature and its positive impact on our well-being.
The title derives from graffiti Reilly saw in a derelict hut overlooking a scenic salt lake in Formentera: “Follow your dream.” I

An exhibition celebrating the beauty in the ordinary. “Line has always been foremost in my work practice, and for many years I worked solely in etching. After almost 40 years, I decided to move away from the toxic materials and acids I had been using, to employing greener methods. With the move to dry point, I have returned to my first love; drawing. I also like the challenge with working on acetate sheets as there is little or no way of correcting a mark made. This decision to change was made during the pandemic.

Opening: Sunday 1 March 2026 3pm to 5pm.
Closing Saturday 28 March 2026 4pm.

Exhibition continues from 31/01/2026 to 07/03/2026.

Deliberate/Deliberate brings together the work of Alastair Keady and Helen O’Sullivan, Through constraint, repetition, and attentiveness to process, the work considers how meaning can emerge slowly; through structure and deviation, articulation and restraint.  Approaching making as a reflective process and a cultivated sensibility.

Through slowing down and looking while having a relaxed chat, this tour explores our experience of the artworks and how we make personal connections with them. We will also consider the ways each artwork works together to form the exhibition in the Gallery.

Dragana Jurišić’s works predominantly through the medium of photography, film and installation. Born in former Yugoslavia, she has been living and working in Dublin since 1999. Her work has recently been included in Kutxa Fundazioa Tabakalera, San Sebastián (2025); IMMA, Dublin (2023); Crawford Art Gallery, Cork (2022); Zurich Portrait Prize, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (2021).

Exhibition continues from 17/01/2026 to 24/02/2026.

Emerging artist James Moonan presents his first solo exhibition, featuring award-winning recent work alongside pieces made throughout his childhood. Growing up with autism, he drew creative inspiration from picture book illustration and children’s animation. This exhibition celebrates his artistic journey and the imaginative world of wonder that captures youth and childhood.

A programme bringing together a network of artistic and academic practices through the exchange of viewpoints, and the creation of new social bonds.
Opening: Thursday, 29 January 2026, 6PM – 8PM. All are welcome to attend.

EXHIBITING PRACTITIONERS
Dr Richard A. Carter, Michele Horrigan, Dr Ameera Kawash, with Studio Bark’s U-Build.
PUBLIC EVENTS
All events fixed to the time zone in Ireland (GMT+0)
(See further below for event descriptions. Ticket links forthcoming)

PUBLIC EVENTS
1. The NCAD School for Un/Learning Workshops Wed, 11 Feb 2026, 5-7PM, Gallery, Foyer, Street.
2. Multi-Story Symposia Sat, 21 Feb 2026, 10AM-2PM, Gallery.

Exhibition continues from 05/02/2026 to 27/02/2026.

A new exhibition by Sharon Smith “This is Me” is a series of portraits created in collaboration with women of Ashford, Rathnew and Wicklow. Smith’s work explores the lived experience of womanhood responding to themes around motherhood, ageing and the invisibility of the ordinary woman. Her process encourages the subject to present themselves in an authentic and truthful way so that we may see something of their inner experience. In essence this work is about removing the masks we wear and allowing ourselves to be truly seen. Smith believes that it is in seeing others that we can be helped to accept and value our own self.

An overview of all the shows held at the gallery this year, surveying 4 solo exhibitions: Symbols of Revival by Nickie Hayden, Springs Opens Forever In Eternity by Conrad Frankel, An ghaoth aniar/This too will pass by Eoin Mac Lochlainn, and Self Portrait with a Pet and a Bathtub by Daniel Lipstein. The exhibition also includes works from two group shows: Out of Lines and Ode to Giants. Artists: Annika Berglund, Hugh Cummins, Colin Eaton, Mary A. Fitzgerald, David Fox, Conrad Frankel, Nickie Hayden, Daniel Lipstein, Eoin Mac Lochlainn, Miriam McConnon, Sheila Naughton, Bart O’Reilly, Yanny Petters, Kelly Ratchford and Vicky Smith.

Mermaid Arts Centre is pleased to announce its first exhibition for 2026, WAAG – an archive, curated by Helena Tobin and Irish Vos, which visits from South Tipperary Arts Centre in partnership with NIVAL, the National Irish Visual Arts Library. This exhibition revisits the Women Artists Action Group (1987-1991) through its archive of documents and images, examining the legacy and impact of the group on Contemporary Irish Art.  A panel discussion facilitated by visual artist and researcher Alessia Carngnelli will take place on Saturday 21st February from 1-3pm in Mermaid Arts Centre’s Gallery. Visit Mermaid’s website for how to book.

Curated by Vivienn Byrne.

Eilish McCann, an artist based in County Cavan, works in oil and acrylic on canvas and paper. Her paintings move between attentive observation of everyday life and imaginative reinterpretations of classical painting. Don’t Throw Bouquets takes its title from a Sinatra song, a rendition from the musical Oklahoma!, sung by her father about the house—a tune that resonates through this body of work, reflecting the transitional states of grief and aging.

The artist has returned to her border hometown in Cavan after many years away and has received the Professional Artist Award 2025 from Cavan Arts, Cavan County Council.

Brady Izquierdo is a Cuban artist based in Kildare. Working across caricature, illustration and painting, his practice engages with pressing themes such as the misuse of technology, climate change and migration. ‘Suspended in the Landscape’ presents a diverse and compelling body of paintings that highlights the enduring influence of illustration within the artist’s work while also revealing a new dialogue between himself and his lived reality.
‘Suspended in the Landscape’ is co-curated by Brady Izquierdo and AnneMarie Saliba.

Exhibition continues from 06/02/2026 to 28/02/2026.

Curated by Noémie Cursoux.

Preview: Thursday 5 February 2026 from 6 – 8 pm at The Library Project, 4 Temple Bar, Dublin 2.

Featuring selected Black Church and invited artists: Svenja Michelle Behle, John Graham, Eva Nielsen, Sam O’Reilly, Tracy Staunton and Lee Welch.

Slow Image brings together practices that explore and question the materiality of the image in relation to contemporary visual culture. The title of this exhibition is inspired by Helen Westgeest’s publication, Slow Painting, in which the author reflects on handmade image-making as a counterpoint to the rapid, consumable imagery of our media-saturated world.

Down the road, around the corner guides us to an unknown, yet familiar setting. Join us on a journey of twists and turns, a journey of friends. On this road, security will be replaced by uncertainty, and feelings of familiarity will slowly unravel and unwind. The unknown is the fertile soil of the artist, a soil endlessly in formation, where concrete coexists with whimsy and conflicting emotions. Our unknown is the realm of extended adolescence, where the goals of adulthood are held in suspension, where isolation meets superstition and nostalgia, and the destination is closer to us than we have ever experienced it before.

Exhibition continues from 06/12/2025 to 01/03/2026

Birr Theatre & Arts Centre is proud to present the 18th Common Ground, our annual group exhibition, bringing together artists from the Midlands. This year, exploring the given theme of “A Terrible Beauty” the selected artists explore a shared space, physical, emotional, and imaginative — where human experience converges.

Exhibition continues from 16/01/2026 to 01/03/2026.

‘The Last Balkan Cowboy’ is a long-term project culminating in an exhibition of photographs by Dragana Jurišić that follows the footsteps of cult Yugoslavian film director, Hari Džekson. Renowned for his interpretation of Wild West genre archetypes, Džekson lived a cowboy fantasy inspired by the rugged landscapes around Bijeljina in present-day Bosnia-Herzegovina. Using local people as his crew and cast, Džekson conjured worlds far from his reality and brought together people of different ethnic backgrounds, whom the Yugoslav Wars would bitterly divide.

Opening reception: Thurs 15 January, 6pm

The Last Balkan Cowboy is a long-term project by Dragana Jurišić that follows the footsteps of cult Yugoslavian film director, Hari Džekson. Renowned for his interpretation of Wild West genre archetypes, Džekson lived a cowboy fantasy inspired by the rugged landscapes around Bijeljina in present-day Bosnia-Herzegovina. Using local people as his crew and cast, Džekson conjured worlds far from his reality and brought together people of different ethnic backgrounds, whom the Yugoslav Wars would bitterly divide.

Opening – 26 February at 6.00pm.

Past, Passing or To Come brings Cypriot artists into creative dialogue with artists living and working in Ireland drawing inspiration from Sailing to Byzantium by W. B. Yeats.

Participating artists are Christina Shiakola, Eliza Pieri, Mandalena Miltiadi, Manuel McCarthy Valderrama, and Vassilis Vassiliades.

The exhibition is made possible with the support of the Embassy of the Republic of Cyprus in Ireland and with the funding of the Deputy Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Cyprus, as part of the official programme of cultural actions marking the Cypriot EU Presidency.

In her practice, Breda is interested in exploring ideas around the interconnection between humans and nature. She is fascinated by how the patterns and imprints of time and movement, of people, wildlife and natural elements are held on the surface and in the deeper layers of the earth.

The new work in Sticks, Stones & Bones has been developed through walking, gathering elements, and responding through drawing and mark making working with watercolour, together with a sculptural installation in three parts.

Described by art critic John Yau as “one of the great painters of his generation”, Phillip Allen  has refused to settle into any one mode or style, choosing instead to continually push the possibilities of the picture plane resulting in paintings that are sculptural, optical and joyously excessive. Dense accretions of acrylic and oil paint form thick, encrusted borders that frame finely worked interior fields. Within these interiors, rhythmic geometries, spiralling motifs and kaleidoscopic colour sequences unfold with a sense of buoyant improvisation. 

Exhibition continues from 31/01/2026 to 07/03/2026.

Deliberate/Deliberate brings together the work of Alastair Keady and Helen O’Sullivan, Through constraint, repetition, and attentiveness to process, the work considers how meaning can emerge slowly; through structure and deviation, articulation and restraint.  Approaching making as a reflective process and a cultivated sensibility.

Exhibition continues from 05/02/2026 to 07/03/2026.

In Studio House Museum, O’Kane extends his long-standing exploration of creative spaces as living archives, sites that hold not only traces of artistic labour but also memory, influence, and mythology. His paintings reconstruct and reimagine these environments through a distinctive synthesis of Modernist aesthetics, architectural clarity, and painterly intuition. Each work functions as a speculative interior or exterior, a space where art history, personal experience, and imagination intersect.

IMMA Collection: Art as Agency is a major three-year display celebrating IMMA’s Permanent Collection as a source of agency and knowledge. Featuring over 100 artists, from the 1960s to the present, it highlights key works, including many recent acquisitions. This ambitious exhibition invites engagement and research over time, allowing for a rich durational experience of Ireland’s Modern and Contemporary Art Collection.

Through thematic, chronological, geographical, and media-based approaches, the exhibition examines how artworks connect across time and contexts, fostering new interpretations and relevance. Works from the 1960s to the 1980s evoke the foundational story of the Irish art world. While acknowledging the context of the modernist, predominantly male dominance of that era, the exhibition also spotlights the material innovation and socially engaged practices of others who persisted despite the relatively conservative status quo.

The exhibition also presents more recent practice that explores urgent global themes such as gender, hybridity, cultural histories, de-colonialism, diaspora, migration, food injustice, climate, and ecological change. Memory, imagination, and storytelling play pivotal roles in these works, offering generative ways to process fragmentation, dislocation, and survival in unfamiliar spaces. New and existing works in the IMMA grounds will extend these themes.

The exhibition includes a specially created ‘white cube’ gallery space inspired by Brian O’Doherty’s renowned series of essays Inside the White Cube – The Ideology of the Gallery Space (1976), that critiques the auratic, market-driven effects of the white cube gallery format. Likewise the choice of works curated for this space pushes back by highlighting works by Post-War American women, pioneering conceptualist artworks by Marcel Duchamp and Brian O’Doherty as well as a contemporary feminist response by Andrea Geyer.

By interweaving historical and contemporary narratives, Art as Agency invites audiences to reflect on the evolving meanings and possibilities of art in shaping our understanding of and action in the world.

This is the first solo exhibition by renowned artist, poet and activist Cecilia Vicuña in Ireland. For this exhibition Vicuña’s delves into themes of ancestry, ecological urgency, and the interconnectedness of humanity inspired by the discovery of her ancient ties to Ireland.

An overview of all the shows held at the gallery this year, surveying 4 solo exhibitions: Symbols of Revival by Nickie Hayden, Springs Opens Forever In Eternity by Conrad Frankel, An ghaoth aniar/This too will pass by Eoin Mac Lochlainn, and Self Portrait with a Pet and a Bathtub by Daniel Lipstein. The exhibition also includes works from two group shows: Out of Lines and Ode to Giants. Artists: Annika Berglund, Hugh Cummins, Colin Eaton, Mary A. Fitzgerald, David Fox, Conrad Frankel, Nickie Hayden, Daniel Lipstein, Eoin Mac Lochlainn, Miriam McConnon, Sheila Naughton, Bart O’Reilly, Yanny Petters, Kelly Ratchford and Vicky Smith.

Exhibition continues from 06/12/2025 to 01/03/2026

Birr Theatre & Arts Centre is proud to present the 18th Common Ground, our annual group exhibition, bringing together artists from the Midlands. This year, exploring the given theme of “A Terrible Beauty” the selected artists explore a shared space, physical, emotional, and imaginative — where human experience converges.

from the earth presents new and recent works by Margo McNulty, an artist whose practice explores the relationship between memory, place, and materiality. Through painting, printmaking and photography, McNulty reflects on how personal and collective histories become embedded within objects and landscapes. Her work often draws upon Irish traditions and investigates hidden narratives that shape cultural identity.

Born on Achill Island, Co. Mayo, McNulty studied Fine Art at GMIT and completed her MFA at NCAD, Dublin. She currently lives and works in Co. Roscommon.

The trackmaker was a sluggish mover by Bryony Dunne.

Irish Architectural Archive, 45 Merrion Square, Dublin.
Opening Thursday 15 January 2026, 6–8pm.

16 January–27 March 2026, Tuesday to Friday, 10am–5pm.

The Irish Architectural Archive and Askeaton Contemporary Arts are pleased to announce The trackmaker was a sluggish mover, a solo exhibition by Bryony Dunne.

The Last Balkan Cowboy is a long-term project by Dragana Jurišić that follows the footsteps of cult Yugoslavian film director, Hari Džekson. Renowned for his interpretation of Wild West genre archetypes, Džekson lived a cowboy fantasy inspired by the rugged landscapes around Bijeljina in present-day Bosnia-Herzegovina. Using local people as his crew and cast, Džekson conjured worlds far from his reality and brought together people of different ethnic backgrounds, whom the Yugoslav Wars would bitterly divide.

Mermaid Arts Centre is pleased to announce its first exhibition for 2026, WAAG – an archive, curated by Helena Tobin and Irish Vos, which visits from South Tipperary Arts Centre in partnership with NIVAL, the National Irish Visual Arts Library. This exhibition revisits the Women Artists Action Group (1987-1991) through its archive of documents and images, examining the legacy and impact of the group on Contemporary Irish Art.  A panel discussion facilitated by visual artist and researcher Alessia Carngnelli will take place on Saturday 21st February from 1-3pm in Mermaid Arts Centre’s Gallery. Visit Mermaid’s website for how to book.

Opening reception Saturday 17 January 2.30-4.30pm.

Mark Francis creates powerful paintings charged with movement, sound and rhythm, by combining intense sequences of colour that compete within tightly gridded structures.
For this exhibition Mark Francis presents new paintings, charcoal drawings, and Solstice Commission, “Listening Field”, the first moving image work by the artist.
This new work will feature as part of Francis’ representation of the Republic of San Marino at the 61st Venice Biennale.

GALLERY:
Tuesday to Saturday, 11.00am – 4.00pm

In her practice, Breda is interested in exploring ideas around the interconnection between humans and nature. She is fascinated by how the patterns and imprints of time and movement, of people, wildlife and natural elements are held on the surface and in the deeper layers of the earth.

The new work in Sticks, Stones & Bones has been developed through walking, gathering elements, and responding through drawing and mark making working with watercolour, together with a sculptural installation in three parts.

Exhibition continues from 17/01/2026 to 24/02/2026.

Emerging artist James Moonan presents his first solo exhibition, featuring award-winning recent work alongside pieces made throughout his childhood. Growing up with autism, he drew creative inspiration from picture book illustration and children’s animation. This exhibition celebrates his artistic journey and the imaginative world of wonder that captures youth and childhood.

Exhibition continues from 16/01/2026 to 01/03/2026.

‘The Last Balkan Cowboy’ is a long-term project culminating in an exhibition of photographs by Dragana Jurišić that follows the footsteps of cult Yugoslavian film director, Hari Džekson. Renowned for his interpretation of Wild West genre archetypes, Džekson lived a cowboy fantasy inspired by the rugged landscapes around Bijeljina in present-day Bosnia-Herzegovina. Using local people as his crew and cast, Džekson conjured worlds far from his reality and brought together people of different ethnic backgrounds, whom the Yugoslav Wars would bitterly divide.

Opening reception: Thurs 15 January, 6pm

Pallas Projects/Studios are delighted to announce the participating artists in our Arts Council funded programme of Artist-Initiated Projects 2026. The series will be part of a programme celebrating 30 years of Pallas Projects/Studios. Between January–December 2026 we will present 8 x 3-week exhibitions of new work by:

Paddy Critchley, Fiona Marron, Finn Nichol, Emma Brennan and Thomas Wells, Ciara Rodgers, Struàn Bell, Christopher Mahon, neonatus.exe

Maryam Tafakory is a UK-based, Iranian artist filmmaker who makes textual and filmic collages. Her work interweaves poetry, archival, and found material to explore depictions of erasure, secrecy, and censorship. In her essayistic videos, images and scenes drawn from a vast archive of films are reworked to examine intimacy, desire, and prohibition. She works with film and performance and is the 2024 winner of the Film London Jarman Award.

Curated by Vivienn Byrne.

Eilish McCann, an artist based in County Cavan, works in oil and acrylic on canvas and paper. Her paintings move between attentive observation of everyday life and imaginative reinterpretations of classical painting. Don’t Throw Bouquets takes its title from a Sinatra song, a rendition from the musical Oklahoma!, sung by her father about the house—a tune that resonates through this body of work, reflecting the transitional states of grief and aging.

The artist has returned to her border hometown in Cavan after many years away and has received the Professional Artist Award 2025 from Cavan Arts, Cavan County Council.

Described by art critic John Yau as “one of the great painters of his generation”, Phillip Allen  has refused to settle into any one mode or style, choosing instead to continually push the possibilities of the picture plane resulting in paintings that are sculptural, optical and joyously excessive. Dense accretions of acrylic and oil paint form thick, encrusted borders that frame finely worked interior fields. Within these interiors, rhythmic geometries, spiralling motifs and kaleidoscopic colour sequences unfold with a sense of buoyant improvisation. 

VISUAL is pleased to present DRILL, newly commissioned exhibition of moving image and sound installation by Naomi Sex. Working with both professional and non-actors, Sex has written and directed a series of scripted performances. These vignettes consider language, social interaction, absurdity and the limits of understanding. DRILL comprises a series of monitors, speakers and projectors, which present each piece as distinct but interrelated episodes, linked to each other in an installation that places the viewer in the centre of the work.

VISUAL is pleased to present Interloper, the first project by Anne Hardy in Ireland. For this exhibition of existing and newly commissioned works, Hardy has responded to the distinct architecture of VISUAL; the concrete and glass of the Link Gallery and its connection to the ornamental pond seen through the large windows, and the blank canvas of the Studio Gallery’s white cube design and its heavily patinated floor. Interloper marks a continued evolution in Hardy’s practice.

“Now now” by Andy Fitz uses language to record a passing moment in time. An out-of-date present is rearranged in minute detail as though the process might reveal something. Time remains static – the food never grows mouldy. Unremarkable domestic objects are balanced across the gallery in precarious abstraction from their usual surroundings. “Now now” is also a phrase whose function and meaning is dependent on tone; it can be understood as a warning, or a consolation. The sculptures build on these unresolved tensions; the personal in the political, the present in light of the past.

DCU Art Collection is honoured to receive a significant donation of fine art prints from artist and master printer James McCreary, one of Ireland’s most respected figures in printmaking, and his wife Elizabeth McCreary.

To celebrate this generous donation DCU are hosting an exhibition of of selected works from the James and Elizabeth McCreary Collection on DCU St. Patrick’s Campus. Featuring works by Jane O’Malley, A.R. Penck, Niall Naessens, James McCreary, Tony O’Malley, Maria Simonds-Gooding, Michael Cullen and others, the exhibition offers a rich insight into contemporary printmaking and the spirit of personal collecting.

A programme bringing together a network of artistic and academic practices through the exchange of viewpoints, and the creation of new social bonds.
Opening: Thursday, 29 January 2026, 6PM – 8PM. All are welcome to attend.

EXHIBITING PRACTITIONERS
Dr Richard A. Carter, Michele Horrigan, Dr Ameera Kawash, with Studio Bark’s U-Build.
PUBLIC EVENTS
All events fixed to the time zone in Ireland (GMT+0)
(See further below for event descriptions. Ticket links forthcoming)

PUBLIC EVENTS
1. The NCAD School for Un/Learning Workshops Wed, 11 Feb 2026, 5-7PM, Gallery, Foyer, Street.
2. Multi-Story Symposia Sat, 21 Feb 2026, 10AM-2PM, Gallery.

Brady Izquierdo is a Cuban artist based in Kildare. Working across caricature, illustration and painting, his practice engages with pressing themes such as the misuse of technology, climate change and migration. ‘Suspended in the Landscape’ presents a diverse and compelling body of paintings that highlights the enduring influence of illustration within the artist’s work while also revealing a new dialogue between himself and his lived reality.
‘Suspended in the Landscape’ is co-curated by Brady Izquierdo and AnneMarie Saliba.

Dublin’s own Gerard Byrne, renowned for his revival of the Impressionist and plein-air traditions in Ireland, has spent nearly four decades painting professionally. Elevating the ordinary into something extraordinary, his practice spans industrial structures and working ports, flowers in Spring light, bold figures, city streets, coastlines, and distant places—all observed with the same care. This exhibition brings together the full range of his work and marks the opening of Gerard Byrne Gallery’s new Trinity Street home following a standout year in New York.
Mon-Wed: 10-6
Thu-Sat: 10-7
Sun: 11-7

Exhibition continues from 05/02/2026 to 07/03/2026.

In Studio House Museum, O’Kane extends his long-standing exploration of creative spaces as living archives, sites that hold not only traces of artistic labour but also memory, influence, and mythology. His paintings reconstruct and reimagine these environments through a distinctive synthesis of Modernist aesthetics, architectural clarity, and painterly intuition. Each work functions as a speculative interior or exterior, a space where art history, personal experience, and imagination intersect.

Exhibition continues from 05/02/2026 to 27/02/2026.

A new exhibition by Sharon Smith “This is Me” is a series of portraits created in collaboration with women of Ashford, Rathnew and Wicklow. Smith’s work explores the lived experience of womanhood responding to themes around motherhood, ageing and the invisibility of the ordinary woman. Her process encourages the subject to present themselves in an authentic and truthful way so that we may see something of their inner experience. In essence this work is about removing the masks we wear and allowing ourselves to be truly seen. Smith believes that it is in seeing others that we can be helped to accept and value our own self.

Exhibition continues from 06/02/2026 to 28/02/2026.

Curated by Noémie Cursoux.

Preview: Thursday 5 February 2026 from 6 – 8 pm at The Library Project, 4 Temple Bar, Dublin 2.

Featuring selected Black Church and invited artists: Svenja Michelle Behle, John Graham, Eva Nielsen, Sam O’Reilly, Tracy Staunton and Lee Welch.

Slow Image brings together practices that explore and question the materiality of the image in relation to contemporary visual culture. The title of this exhibition is inspired by Helen Westgeest’s publication, Slow Painting, in which the author reflects on handmade image-making as a counterpoint to the rapid, consumable imagery of our media-saturated world.

A multidisciplinary group exhibition featuring new and existing work by Tara Carroll, Sian Costello, Phelim Hoey, Áine O’ Hara, Day Magee, and Rajinder Singh. Curated by Aoife Banks. Affective Forms is a multidisciplinary group exhibition that explores evolving representations of the human body in contemporary Irish art through painting, photography, sculpture, and film. In Affective Forms, the works foreground sensation, relation, and response, positioning the body as a site where personal experience and broader social forces converge.

The winners of both awards will be announced at the opening of the exhibition on Thursday, 12 February 2026.

This exhibition presents a rare opportunity to experience – and for discerning collectors, to acquire – the finest work from Ireland’s most exciting new generation of painters.

2026 Shortlisted Artists: Maya Brezing · Mantas Poderys · Matthew Strickland · Liam Murray · Salvatore of Lucan · Owen de Forge · Manar Mervat Al Shouha · Eileen Leonard Sealy · Conor O’Connell · Daniel Coleman

Filial Love is an intimate exhibition that brings together sculpture, video and wall-mounted works to explore nature through the lens of familial bonds. The exhibition is anchored by a freestanding central installation: a full-length, human-scaled, floral resin cloak, positioned in dialogue with a granite boulder. These elements form a meditation on protection, labour and enduring care – personal, generational and ecological.

Inhale Exhale – Ecologies That Refuse to Behave is an ambitious solo exhibition by artist Fiona McDonald, unfolding as a quiet insurgency staged through peatlands, sensors, and slow code. Across the project, McDonald hijacks the tools of climate science – flux towers, CO₂ sensors, automated chambers – and reroutes them into something they were never designed for: ecological intimacy. Developed through years embedded with the National Parks and Wildlife Service NPWS, these instruments are treated not as neutral data-harvesting devices but as collaborators, shaped by shared data, trust, and sustained attention.

Key Learnings… presents nine artists whose practice incorporates commodity culture, taking in branding, mass-market imagery, retail style, the domestic, advertising and packaging.

Noel Hensey   /   Caroline McCarthy   /   Emily Mc Gardle / Aideen Barry   /   Asha Murray   /   Liliane Puthod   /   Amy McNamara   /   David Timmons   /   Richard Collier.

In this compelling body of new work, Walkways of the M50, O’Reilly turns his attention to the routes incorporated into the M50’s design to enable pedestrian access over or under its constant torrent of roaring traffic. O’Reilly’s paintings present the quiet and stillness of pedestrian spaces within noisy environments built to accommodate vehicles. The M50 is a city fringe. Overlooked edge-lands where urban and rural meet. Homogeneous yet local, landscapes of tension and banality, with a wide abundance of textural variety.

Wexford Arts Centre is pleased to present Gvozdene Kapije (The Iron Gates), an exhibition of new sculpture and film work by Barbara Knežević. The exhibition will run in the lower and upper galleries from Saturday, 14th February, to Friday, 20th March, 2026.

Gvozdene Kapije / The Iron Gates brings together film and sculpture to explore the histories, stories, and materiality of a region in eastern Serbia known as Gvozdene Kapije — a deep gorge at Đerdap on the Danube River, forming the border between Serbia and Romania.

The exhibition was funded by the Arts Council with the support of Solstice Arts Centre and the National Sculpture Factory.

Down the road, around the corner guides us to an unknown, yet familiar setting. Join us on a journey of twists and turns, a journey of friends. On this road, security will be replaced by uncertainty, and feelings of familiarity will slowly unravel and unwind. The unknown is the fertile soil of the artist, a soil endlessly in formation, where concrete coexists with whimsy and conflicting emotions. Our unknown is the realm of extended adolescence, where the goals of adulthood are held in suspension, where isolation meets superstition and nostalgia, and the destination is closer to us than we have ever experienced it before.

Exhibition continues from 13/02/2026 to 29/03/2026.

The Royal Hibernian Academy of Arts is delighted to announce that artists Eileen Leonard Sealy and Daniel Coleman have been awarded the Hennessy Craig Award 2026 and artists Manar Mervat Al Shouha and Conor O’Connell have been awarded the Homan Potterton Award, 2026. Both awards, the largest awards for painters in Ireland, were announced at a ceremony held at the RHA Gallery, on Thursday 12 February.

The Hennessy Craig/Potterton jury selected five artists, from both the 2024 and 2025 Annual Exhibitions, who were invited to submit two new works, currently showing at the RHA until 29 March.

Through slowing down and looking while having a relaxed chat, this tour explores our experience of the artworks and how we make personal connections with them. We will also consider the ways each artwork works together to form the exhibition in the Gallery.

Dragana Jurišić’s works predominantly through the medium of photography, film and installation. Born in former Yugoslavia, she has been living and working in Dublin since 1999. Her work has recently been included in Kutxa Fundazioa Tabakalera, San Sebastián (2025); IMMA, Dublin (2023); Crawford Art Gallery, Cork (2022); Zurich Portrait Prize, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin (2021).