Pictúir

Pictúir, a children's book illustration exhibition opened in the basement of IMMA (Irish Museum of Modern Art) on Wednesday - it's running 'till the 12th of December. I went to the opening, saw the pieces and saw many names wandering around with their bodies.

Have the Oliver Jeffers picture they've been using for this exhibition:

Oliver Jeffers, An orang-utan to knock down the milkman..

Oliver got out of Ireland so he counts now.

Anyway, it's pretty big. Not only did illustrators get into a gallery space that's well-established, they were children's books illustrators. Excellence. (No, it really is). The gallery groups are talking a lot about inviting in a new audience to the galleries, getting them when they're young (not their words, but you know they're thinking it).

It was an interesting exhibition with some really really beautiful artwork. I loved Andrew Whitson's work so much. Wow.

Andrew Whitson, Cogito (Detail)

At the same time, while some pictures certainly stood on their own, some had lost their context, I think. I feel some of the illustrations lost power due to this..
Fortunately, the actual books were available at the gallery, which I thought was a nice touch; if you really liked the artwork, you could seek out its original form and its context.
While illustration should have narrative inherent in it, sometimes the text is equally important - in this case the pieces all had varying degrees of success.

A complaint I have about it is that some illustrations were placed not in the "rooms" but in the short corridor-type spaces between them. This encouraged you to move on, rather than to stop and look. Since we were there to see the art, many of us did stop, but that resulted in gluts of people blocking doorways and general stagnation. Another complaint: some pieces were placed on the walls above furniture, or in corners blocked off by furniture. You can't exactly go in for close examination when there's people sitting and drinking tea, giving you the evil eye as you edge towards them. I do understand that you must work with the space you're given, honestly I do, but I think it was unfortunate that some of the artwork had to hang in these awkward spots. New space please, IMMA, this show has been to Belgium, Vienna, and Bologna, surely the home turf can serve us well? (Even if it is illustration, eh?)

Something I did absolutely love however, is that the show kept its principals to the forefront. It was a children's book illustration exhibition, and so it was extremely child friendly. The dreaded reading pods were used (I say dreaded because I've had to help construct those things. Such confusion). No, they looked fab, though. There was one completely decorated by the artists in the exhibition when you came down the stairs which I love. Here's Steve Simpson's side, stolen off his Facebook (classy).

Steve Simpson's kids, helped by Steve, reading pod

Down the end (by the big case of books from the illustrators!) there's another pod decorated by a local school. This had cushions and blankets and torches. Kids were encouraged to head in there and read away together, very cute and very snug looking! The exhibition also put a small but lengthy cloakroom to use by making it a doodle room! Oil pastels and paper stuck to the walls ahoy! Kids (and adults, shhh) could draw to their heart's content. Adorable and perfect! Also when preparing the food, the kids were thought of. Sausages were served in threes, with thicker sticks, not sharp cocktail sticks, in small cups with generous amounts of tomato ketchup in the end. Brilliant.

All in all it was a very relaxed and welcoming exhibition, very child-friendly, which as you can see I absolutely love. It's been touring around the world and now, after travelling Ireland it's finished up in Dublin. It's well worth a look, there's a lot of variety in style and media, there's, if you'll forgive me, something for everyone.A good idea for a family day certainly, head on down, follow the café signs.

We're in the basement right now, but maybe in later years we'll climb the stairs.

PJ Lynch, The Christmas Miracle of jonathan Toomey