“Twelve Irish habitats in homage to the artists who have inspired me.”

The Olivier Cornet Gallery is delighted to present Yanny Petters‘s new solo exhibition.

The artist’s work has joined important public collections in recent years such as the National Gallery of Ireland with the work The Plants We Played With, the National Museum of Ireland with Hand Fan for Habitats and the Shirley Sherwood Gallery of Botanical Art in Kew with the work Three trees; Blackthorn, Rowan, Hawthorn. The illustrious London gallery boasts 6 works by the artist in their collection.

In creating this body of work Yanny has immersed herself in the forms and colours which draw her eye to the many wild habitats of the Irish landscape. Her raison d’être is drawing our attention to the wonders and treasures around us.

While this new body of work is primarily about wild habitats, Yanny explores a common thread in her work over the last forty years with the inspiration she has drawn from the artists and creators she has admired since childhood.

Intrigued by the innate visual and emotional common ground between the elements of design and practice of these artists and the forms, colours and ‘design’ in nature Yanny has immersed herself in each artwork, discovering there a deeply familiar and fascinating link.

While researching each habitat from seashore to mountain bog, and musing over how the particular elements are reflected in the work of each old master, Yanny found that the plants’ particular nature is reflected in the individual styles of masters such as Mainie Jellet, Albrecht Dürer, Harry Clarke, Gustav Klimt, William Morris and the Moghul artists of ancient India. It is as if there is a natural association between Yanny’s perception of each habitat and the artist to whom she pays homage.

The exhibition includes twelve carefully considered artworks of habitats reflecting Yanny’s own unique practice. All the pieces are reverse painted on glass in a technique known as Verre Eglomisé which Yanny has developed since she was introduced to it in the 1980s while training as a signwriter.

Her intention as ever is to make visible that which we are inclined to dismiss – by rendering it precious. Urbanisation has made us become more removed from our natural heritage, so Yanny endeavours to open our eyes to the wonders around us so we may become enthused to protect our environment in this time of climate change.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue with an essay by Dr Hilary Pyle.

Please note that the show is part of CAGA’s Dublin Gallery Weekend 2024 (8, 9 and 10 November 2024).

Dublin Gallery Weekend is supported by lead partner IPUT Real Estate Dublin, media partner The Irish Times, partner Dublin City Council, with the support of CANTOR Fitzgerald, Crowe, Finlay-Mulligan, Maurice Ward Art Handling, McCarthy Insurance Group, The Merrion Hotel, Ogier and RANGE ROVER.

A special talk ‘Craft in Contemporary Art Practices‘ will take place at 6:30pm on Friday 8 November with the OCG artists Yanny Petters, Annika Berglund and Hugh Cummins who will be in conversation with the art historian Jean Ryan.

Other events will be announced closer to the date.