Lee Hamill, Denis Burke, Sinéad O’Neill-Nicholl, Spencer Glover, Dave Madigan, Irene O’Neill, Kerry Guinan, Aisling Ní Aodha, Season Dailey, Ann Ensor, Paul McGrane, Jason Deans, John O’Reilly, Jack Knowles, Natalie Pullen, Conan McIvor, Alan Raggett, Sanja Todorović, Daithi Magner, Sheila McCarron, Garvan Corr, Anna Donovan, Celine Sheridan, Simon McDermott, Basil Al-Rawi, Sarah Edmondson, Saidhbhín Gibson, Matthew Wilson, William Bock, Jeanette Lowe, Ciaran Harper, Blaine O’Donnell, Augustine O Donoghue, Miriam McConnon, Laragh Pittman, Clodagh Emoe & Crocosmia

2020 was a year like no other. It took away freedom of movement but provided time to stop and reflect, it curbed emotions and touch but made every human interaction valued. It created fear and anxiety but brought consideration and care. It quietened voices through masks but made demonstrations stronger.

Not only was 2020 the year of the pandemic, it was also the year when George Floyd was brutally murdered by police and people turned out on mass to fight for justice and equality. It was the year when forest fires ravaged land and lives, and Greta Thunberg echoed her generation’s anger on future devastation unless ways are changed. 2020 was also the year that Donald Trump fell, a toxic time of corruption, injustice and racism ended. His almighty crash a beacon of hope for a better future.

Hindsight is 20/20 is an exploration of the events and impact of 2020 through the work of 36 artists selected from an open call out.

The title Hindsight is 20/20 is taken from a phrase which is used to describe how clarity of a situation is gained from looking back on it from a vantage point.

The selection panel for this year’s Winter Open is Ella Bertilsonn (Rua Red Studio Artist), Donal Maguire (Curator National Gallery of Ireland), Sophie Spisser (Erasmus + Intern), Maolíosa Boyle (Executive Director Rua Red) and Hugh Mc Carthy (Senior Technician Rua Red)

The Winter Open is Rua Red’s annual open exhibition of fine and applied arts. This open submission is an opportunity for graduates, emerging and established artists in Ireland (including the North of Ireland) to exhibit their work in Gallery 1. The overall winner of the Rua Red Art Prize will be awarded a solo show in Gallery 2 at some point during the ensuing 12-month period.

Rua Red has a policy of supporting artists at all stages of their career. One of the new ways that Rua Red will implement this policy will be to select and purchase works from the Winter Open and Café Wall exhibition to form a collection for the organisation. The works will go on show within the building on a rotational basis in the Conference and Meeting Room areas.

Ella Bertilsson
Ella Bertilsson (b. Umeå, Sweden) is a studio artist at Rua Red (2019-2022). Her work combines sculpture, video, performance and sound to construct staged installations as a form of enquiry into the human condition. Forthcoming solo exhibitions: The Complex (2021) and Ballina Art Centre (2022). Current group show: Double Estate, Pearse Museum, OPW State Art Collection (2020). Recent: Stories from Lismore and Beyond, Lismore Castle Arts (2020), MART’s Award Exhibition; Home made Home, Mart (2020) and PeripheriesOPEN, Gorey School of Art (2019). Bertilsson received South County Council’s Individual Artist Bursary Award (2020), FSAS Digital Bursary Award (2019) and the Peer Residency at the RHA (2018-2019). She has a 1st Class Hons BA (2009) and MFA (2015) both awarded by NCAD.

Donal Maguire
Donal Maguire began his career as an artist having studied painting and art history at the National College of Art and Design before completing his MPhil in art history at Trinity College and moving towards curation. He is currently Curator of the National Gallery of Ireland’s ESB Centre for the Study of Irish Art, one of the world’s leading centres for the preservation of, and access to, Irish art research collections. His own research interests are in modern and contemporary Irish art; art and ecology; the Irish diaspora; and collection management. He has published and lectured widely at a national and European level and is a contributor to the RIA Art and Architecture of Ireland. He has curated numerous exhibitions including ‘Jack B. Yeats, The Sketchbooks’ (2013); ‘Aftermath, The War Landscapes of William Orpen’ (2017); ‘Markievicz: Portraits and Propaganda’ (2018); ‘Shaping Ireland: Landscapes in Irish Art’ (2020). He has a strong interest in the role of research in art practice and has commissioned new artworks by artists including Sarah Pierce, Garrett Phelan and Amanda Coogan.

Sophie Spisser
Sophie Spisser recieved her BA in Sociology from the University of Strasbourg and an MA in Landscape Architecture From l’Ecole nationale Supérieur du Paysage de Versailles, focusing on the idea of landscape in theater. She has always had a keen interest in issues of democracy and supports the idea that art is a way of emancipation and liberty. Sophie has previously worked in Chaillot -Théâtre National de la Danse and La Colline -Théâtre National, both in Paris. It gives her the opportunity to develop and expand her point of view about contemporary topics in art. Before joining Rua Red as an Erasmus Intern she worked for Culture Bas-Saint-Laurent in Rimouski, Canada, an organisation who’s mission is to promote culture and art in the region.