Helen Blake | The Duchess of Burgundy | 2020 | Oil on linen | 122 x 91.5cm

For Culture night 2022 the Arts Council will maintain its proud tradition of showcasing a selection of works recently added to its extensive Visual Art Collection.

This year we are delighted to once again welcome audiences to share these works in person at the Arts Council’s buildings in Dublin as part of Culture night.

Works by many of Irelands most distinguished and celebrated artists will be shown on the night including recently acquired pieces by: Helen Blake, Vivienne Dick, Eleanor Duffin, Paul Hallahan, Andreas Kindler Von Knobloch, Vera Klute, Colm Mac Athlaoich, Leanne McDonagh, Rajinder Singh, Kathy Tynan, Suzanne Walsh and Marcel Vidal.

The works on show from the Collection showcase the Arts Councils ongoing commitment to purchasing excellent and ambitious works of art which reflect the amazing standard of contemporary Irish visual arts practice and which both engage with and represent Ireland today.

In addition to the artworks on display in Merrion Square on the night the Arts Council Collection can also be seen throughout the country as part of ongoing exhibitions and long term display in public buildings such as hospitals, universities and schools.

For those who won’t be able to visit in person on the night we are sharing some insight on each of the artist and artworks which will be on display:

‘Patrick T. Murphy writes of Blake’s work:

If Agnes Martin, the great 20th Century American artist, pared down painting to the essential grid to open it into a form of purity, Blake starts from there to build up the grid to offer us the joy of complexity. Colour startles in Blake’s compositions, the variety of it, the symphony of it. One reaches for the Thesaurus to help to name the dozen shades of purple alone. And she knows her colour wheel, what can complement and what can jar.
This palette is put into the servitude of geometry – square, rectangle, triangle, chevron, cone - to create a myriad of possibility, evident in its agility to evade repetition in any installation of a Blake show that you may see. Its geometric execution isn’t mechanical but humanised, the touch of the artist there in every line. The ridges of the brushstroke offer a haptic quality to the surface.’

Since 1962, the Arts Council has been buying art from working artists. The Collection that evolved tells the story of modern and contemporary Irish visual art in a unique and fascinating way. Today the Collection continues to grow and its almost 1,300 paintings, sculptures and other works are on display in public spaces all over Ireland for people to experience and enjoy first hand.

Explore the Collection and more on our website here.