Former Taoiseach Enda Kenny to open exhibition
Claremorris Gallery in Co Mayo will host the official launch of In the Land, a new exhibition of paintings by acclaimed Irish artist Martin Gale, on 22 November from 4-6pm.
The exhibition will be opened by former Taoiseach Enda Kenny, who has a longstanding connection with the artist.
That connection was sparked when the National University of Ireland, Galway Foundation presented Mr Kenny with a small painting by Gale.
The work captured his interest, and following his retirement from politics he reached out to the artist to learn more about the piece.
What began as a simple inquiry developed into a friendly, ongoing email correspondence and gallery director Rosemarie Noone considered Mr Kenny the natural choice to open Gale’s latest exhibition.
In the Land continues Martin Gale’s distinctive and quietly arresting engagement with the Irish landscape.
Myths
His new works delve into the myths, tensions and subtle strangeness that lie beneath seemingly ordinary rural scenes. The paintings feature a striking array of motifs: wolves emerging at dusk, circus tents pitched incongruously in open fields, and looping doughnut rings left on empty beaches by ‘little boy racers’.
Each image is grounded in familiar terrain yet tinged with something dreamlike and unsettling.
Across all these works, Gale maintains his characteristic precision: crisp light, deep shadows, and a meticulous attention to surface.
This exhibition invites viewers to dwell in that in-between space: where the ordinary becomes strange, where the rural becomes symbolic, and where the known world reveals its deeper, more mysterious layers.
For further information, contact info@claremorrisgallery.com