The Copper House Gallery in association with Temple Bar Cultural Trust are delighted to promote the First Thursdays Dublin initiative. An extension of the Culture Night ethos, this initiative provides a platform for late night free arts and culture being made available to the public after hours one night in the month.

The Copper House Gallery will remain open from 6-8pm on Thursday 1st March 2012, providing a fantastic opportunity to see our current exhibition ReViewed by Seán Hillen which was launched on Wednesday 8th February 2012.

This new exhibition of monumental scale prints provides a new perspective on the artist’s work to date. Radical new scanning technology and skills deployed at The Copper House Gallery reveal details of his finely crafted microscopic world which have previously been inaccessible to the naked eye.

ReViewed runs at The Copper House Gallery from 8th February until 2nd March 2012. Admission is free and all are welcome.

An interview with Seán Hillen featured in Issue no. 5 of The Shot, Irelands new photography magazine. Founded by John McAleer and Karl Clarke, The Shot magazine showcases the best of photography on a national and international scale.

For this interview, Seán Hillen discusses his recent work and collaboration with The Copper House Gallery for the ReViewed exhibition. Referencing the influences of Surrealist artist Marcel Duchamp and  polymath Robert Anton Wilson, Seán Hillen considers the genesis of his distinctive aesthetic.

ReViewed runs at The Copper House Gallery until 2nd March 2012. Admission is free and all are welcome.

We were delighted to hear a feature about  ReViewed, an exhibition by Seán Hillen at The Copper House Gallery, on The Green Room on Newstalk 106-108FM Monday 20th February 2012. This innovative arts and culture programme is presented by broadcaster and print journalist Orla Barry.

ReViewed was featured on the cultural round-up by guest reporter Nicole Rourke of  the Big Smoke Writing Factory. Actor, writer and facilitator Nicole Rourke praised the museum scale artworks and mentioned the magnificent Copper House building as well worth a visit.

ReViewed runs at The Copper House Gallery until 2nd March 2012. Admission is free and all are welcome.

We were delighted at The Copper House Gallery to find that our current exhibition, ReViewed by  Seán Hillen, was reviewed by the very popular and widely read Metro Herald in the print edition on Wednesday 22nd March 2012.

The very eloquent article written by Daragh Reddin, describes the IRELANTIS series as ‘a satirical mash-up of the nostalgic, the twee and the vaguely apocalyptic’.

Daragh Reddin further notes that a visitor to the ReViewed exhibition will ‘be blown away by these massive facsimiles, where the humdrum and the extraordinary sit curiously side-by-side’.

ReViewed runs at The Copper House Gallery until 2nd March 2012. Admission is free to this event and all are welcome.

We were delighted to hear a superb interview by journalist and presenter Vanessa Monaghan on RTE 2XM’s Culture Cafe, broadcast  on Wednesday 15th February 2012. Vanessa Monaghan, or Nessy, interviewed artist Seán Hillen at the launch of his latest exhibition ReViewed at The Copper House Gallery which took place on Wednesday 8th February 2012.

Seán Hillen discussed the innovative approach taken to the re-imagining of his distinctive photo-collages, using the ultra-high resolution scanning facilities at The Copper House Gallery to produce museum scale prints of his work. Praising the exceptional standard of the fine art printing produced by the team at Fire, the artist spoke about the enriching experience of this collaboration with The Copper House Gallery.

ReViewed runs at The Copper House Gallery from 8th February until 2nd March 2012. Admission is free and all are welcome.

On Wednesday evening 8th February 2012 The Copper House Gallery launched ReViewed, an exhibition of photo-collage artworks, by Seán Hillen. This new exhibition of monumental scale prints provides a new perspective on the artist’s work to date. Radical new scanning technology and skills deployed at The Copper House Gallery reveal details of his finely crafted microscopic world which have previously been inaccessible to the naked eye. Artist Seán Hillen’s distinctive photo-collage artworks have been described by Fintan O’Toole as ‘both an intellectual and a popular appeal”, writing “Hillen’s surreal juxtapositions inhabit a weirdly prescient and ruefully realistic representation of contemporary Ireland’.

At the launch, The Copper House Gallery curator Leszek Wolnik acknowledged the privilege it had been for The Copper House Gallery to collaborate with an artist of Seán Hillen’s calibre. On opening the exhibition Tanya Kiang the Director of the Gallery of Photography spoke of the stimulating, witty and compelling nature of the artist’s work. The cosmic force of  Seán Hillen’s aesthetic, Tanya Kiang further noted, would merit at the very least a galaxy named in his honour. Artist Seán Hillen spoke eloquently about the creative relationship with the team at Fire and The Copper House Gallery, describing it as a ‘happy marriage’, the collaboration having enhanced the integrity of  his artistic vision.

We wish to thank Seán Hillen, Tanya Kiang and the  Gallery of Photography , Oliver Sears from the Oliver Sears Gallery, Lindsey Holmes of Lindsey Holmes Publicity and the team at Fire for their support and assistance.

ReViewed runs at The Copper House Gallery from 8th February until 2nd March 2012. Admission is free and all are welcome.

We were delighted at The Copper House Gallery to find that our current exhibition, ReViewed by  Seán Hillen, was given press coverage by the very popular and widely read Metro Herald in the print edition on Thursday 9th February 2012, pictured in this post.

ReViewed, an exhibition by Seán Hillen was launched on Wednesday 8th February 2012 at The Copper House Gallery.

ReViewed runs at The Copper House Gallery from 8th February until 2nd March 2012. Admission is free to this event and all are welcome.

Fire Propeller Winner Darek Fortas  has been nominated for The Foam Paul Huf Award 2012 . Established in 2007, this annual accolade is awarded to a young, talented photographer born after January 1st 1976, who has already developed a personal visual idiom and is producing work that is distinctive in terms of content and style.

The Award is named after the influential Dutch photographer and strong supporter of young talented photographers, Paul Huf. The Foam Paul Huf Award consists of a cash prize of € 20,000, an exhibition at Foam in September 2012 and a portfolio in Foam Magazine’s Talent issue. Previous winners included Raphaël Dallaporta (2011), Alexander Gronsky (2010), Léonie Hampton-Purchas (2009), Pieter Hugo (2008), Taryn Simon (2007) and Mikhael Subotzky (2007).

On behalf of The Copper House Gallery, we wish to congratulate Darek Fortas on this nomination and wish him the best of success for this award. ‘Coal Story’, a photographic exhibition by Darek Fortas at The Copper House Gallery, concludes today 6th February 2012.

We were delighted to read an eloquent and thoughtful review of Coal Story, a photographic exhibition by Darek Fortas on the Art for Art’s Sake blog, written by Jennette Donnelly.  Her well researched piece references Nan Goldin’s work  considering the Archival Image (Miners After Work). Jennette Donnelly further notes that “Darek Fortas is a breath of fresh air into the artistic community. I cannot recommend this show enough.”

Of particular noteworthiness, is Jennette’s appreciation of the craftmanship at Fire –  ”Apart from the images themselves, and Fortas’ technical ability, it is worth mentioning that the quality of the prints and the manner in which they are presented (diamond polished acrylic – available at Fire www.fire.ie). These have enabled the pieces to acquire that professional quality, which, when coupled with obvious talent and skill, create flawless work.”

‘Coal Story’, a photographic exhibition by Darek Fortas at The Copper House Gallery runs until 3rd February 2012. Admission is free and all are welcome.

Fire Propeller winner Darek Fortas will be giving an artists talk at The Copper House Gallery on Wednesday 1st February 2012, 5 – 7pm. ‘Coal Story’, his first solo exhibition, was launched at The Copper House Gallery on 11th January 2012.

This exhibition  is a result of an extensive photographic engagement with the two largest coal mining companies in the European Union located in Silesia, the most industrialised part of Poland. ‘Coal Story’  highlights the social and political capacity of the miners and evokes the history and aftermath of the legendary Solidarity movement.

In tandem with the opening of ‘Coal Story’, the 2012 Fire Propeller Competition was launched. This annual competition is open to all final year students in photography or fine art through photography. Each finalist will receive a prize of €1,000 in fine art printing services as well as participate in a group show at The Copper House Gallery at the end of June. The winner will receive a prize worth €10,000 comprising an Artist’s residency and exhibition. The winner will also receive Individual mentoring from John Duncan at Source Magazine.

Darek Fortas has been recently nominated for the 2nd Alliance Française Photography Prize.  A group exhibition of all shortlisted photographers will take place on 25th April 2012 at Alliance Française, Kildare Street, Dublin 2.

‘Coal Story’ runs until 3rd February 2012. Admission is free to this event and all are welcome.