Luan Gallery is set to launch their 2014 Spring Exhibitions Programme on Friday 21st March at 6pm. All are welcome to attend the wine reception where guest speakers will introduce the work of the exhibiting artists.
Launching on the evening will be three new exhibitions featuring the solo works of male Irish contemporary artists; Tom Fitzgerald, Tim Mann and Tom Climent. 
Featuring in the River Gallery is the work of Tim Mann who recently completed a participatory project in AIT called The Crowed Room. Mann hails from Stamford, Lincolnshire and moved to Ireland in 2001 to peruse his artistic career. Mann has a keen interest in community based projects. Addressing the challenges faced with building an audience for the arts, Mann describes himself as ‘unremitting’ in his commitment to ensure that engagement with the arts is ‘innovative, accessible, diverse and sustainable and is a catalyst for further cultural expansion’.
The exhibited works were created in February in AIT for a wellbeing initiative called Wellness³ – Be Well. Stay Well. Get Well. Of this work, Mann states:
‘Often I take the individual as a whole with the full figure using its outline as evidence of its presence. The outlines overlapping form a linear pattern produced by the uniqueness of each individual. The final piece forms a consuming image for both the people involved in the making and the audience. Collaboration makes the process and ultimately finished artwork more responsive and more human’.
A video and audio piece documenting the making of the work at AIT will accompany the work.
Image from The Celtic Zoo, Tom Fitzgerald
Showing in the New Gallery is The Celtic Zoo by Limerick based artist Tom Fitzgerald. Fitzgerald, a member of Áosdana, served as Head of Sculpture in the Limerick School of Art and Design from 1976 – 2000. Fitzgerald has exhibited extensively throughout Ireland and completed an impressive number of public commissions including the JFK Commemorative coin commissioned by The Central Bank of Ireland, “The Singing Cosmos”, a sculpture for St. Luke’s Hospital in Dublin and “Temple for Molly Bloom” in Olympic Park, Seoul, South Korea.
The Celtic Zoo is a series of mixed media drawings on paper which comment, in a humorous and daring way, on recent Ireland and in particular on its social, political and economical landscape with emphasis on the fall of the Celtic tiger.
With titles such as: ‘Bank evacuated as moral vacuum is detected on top floor’ and ‘Crime suspected as the Celtic Tiger's body is exhumed’ this series of topical works while amusing, inspire thought and debate. This work will be introduced on the evening by Dr Marian Fitzgibbon, Head of the School of Humanities at AIT.
Tom Climent, A Holding 2
Finally, shown in the Library Gallery are the stunning paintings of the very talented Cork native, Tom Ciment. Climent’s spectacular works of oil, and occasionally plaster, on canvas and board are explorations of colour and structure informed but not constrained by his knowledge of art history. In contrast to the work of both Tom Fitzgerald and Tim Mann, Climent’s art speaks directly to the emotions of the viewer, and avoids the use of repetition, irony, and references to popular culture.
Climent, a past recipient of the Tony O’Malley and Victor Treacy Awards has exhibited in Miami, Toronto, Chicago and London. His work is featured in a number of prestigious collections including the Central Bank of Ireland, the National Treasury Management Agency, University College Cork, University College Dublin, AIB Bank and The Office of Public Works.
Luan Gallery are delighted to showcase the work of Tom Fitzgerald, Tim Mann and Tom Climent.
Luan Gallery welcomes school and group tours and can deliver practical workshops to groups on request.
The exhibition runs from 21st March until 22nd April 2014
For more information contact gallery@athloneartandheritage.ie or 0906442154
Luan Gallery is open Tuesday – Saturday 11.00 – 17.00 and Sunday 12.00 – 17.00