Opening Reception Wednesday 4 September, 5:30 – 8pm

The exhibition will be formally opened by artist Robert Ballagh.

Peppercanister Gallery is delighted to present for the first time together, Eddie Mooney HRHA and Joseph O’Connor.

Old friends, Eddie and Joe are from a generation of artists that started out in the 1950’s in the Cavendish Gallery, then opposite the Gate Theatre in Dublin and owned by Paul Belton, father of Liam Belton RHA. As a recognized group, they included John Behan, Charlie Cullen, Michael Kane, Sean McSweeney, the late John Kelly, James McKenna and Dubliner Ronnie Drew. As NCAD night students it is said that Maurice McGonigal, then head of painting, related more to them than to many of the day students, as “they took it more seriously.”

This will be the first time in many years for Eddie to exhibit 11 paintings. Utilising a mix of carefully constructed linear spaces, populated by broad areas of colour and a fair dose of humour and anxiety, the works are mostly figurative, including some which feature kooky cats and dogs. These imagined city scenes relate to an urban vision and “could be anywhere in the world, Hong Kong or New York.”

Following on from Joe’s previous exhibitions at Peppercanister, his continued passionate interest in sport has inspired these recent paintings, with themes of football, cricket, as well as studies of human heads, both male and female. Painted onto newspaper, the dynamic of diagonal lines of the figure and the fusion of colour attract and intrigue him.

Both solitary and enigmatic artists, Mooney and O’Connor have devoted their lives to their art. This historic show will be a landmark exhibition for many reasons. The exhibition will reveal powerful, honest and enduring new work.