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This week Conor Tallon instantly recognised the Image of Samuel Beckett (1994) by Louis le Brocquy....or was it one that looked like it?...It was one night a few years back when Conor spent the night in a studio...as a guest...when he saw it last....the mystery

had to be untangled with the help of Michael Waldron: the Crawford's Assistant Curator...

As Conor slept he was certainly haunted by this stark canvas... where a ghostly head emerges. Sparse hints of blue, red, brown, and green emerge from a deeply lined face and represent the only colours in this field of white. Suggestions of swept back short hair, thin lips, and blank eyes form the main features of the subject’s long, narrow face, which seems to dissolve at the edges.

This is one of the artist’s celebrated Portrait Heads and depicts his friend, the Irish writer and Nobel Laureate, Samuel Beckett (1906-1989). Rather than presenting the viewer with a photo-realistic likeness, le Brocquy instead attempts to reveal the inner spirit of his subject. This, by his own admission, is not an act of creation, but one of discovery as he evokes Beckett’s essence.

Speaking with George Morgan in 1992, Louis le Brocquy (1916-2012) noted that ‘Clearly, it is not possible to paint the spirit. You cannot paint consciousness. You start with the knowledge we all have that the most significant human reality lies beneath material appearance. So, in order to recognise this, to touch this as a painter, I try to paint the head image from the inside out.’

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Sheena Crowley chatted to Elmarie about The Island of Music, a new website that brings together music makers and creators from across all genres of music. From helping musicians to showcase their music, to selling and renting instruments and connecting pupils and teachers, Sheena has a fantastic vision to give them all a platform.

Later in the hour Tadgh Crowley, Senior Curator in The Glucksman Gallery had a chat about "100 Years of Change" - a wonderful exhibition which has had to move online, and which does so using film interviews with a series of fascinating artists, historians and contributors. The Glucksman is a also presenting free art classes for children every day at 11am during Lockdown! Music from Rowan also featured this hour, as well as some classical and film-score favourites.

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It’s the first WORK OF THE WEEK for 2021!...so Conor Tallon and The Crawford Gallery's assistant curator Michael Waldron ring in the New Year with this suitably seasonal work of art!

A painting that exists somewhere between the abstract and figurative, Blue Constrictor (2006) by Elizabeth Magill offers the viewer an image of unending contemplation.

The dark silhouettes of both deciduous and evergreen trees rise across this large canvas. Streaks and glimmers of yellow, red, and blue dart among their wintry forms against a softer wash of twilight. The artist’s use of primary colours, however, implies that we are being presented with something constructed, while the uncertain viewpoint and atmosphere suggest the sense of being ‘in between’. Forms on the left even appear as spectres or echoes and tiny mixed media elements figure in the upper branches.

Does the title, Blue Constrictor, allude to a contracting muscle or a large species of snake? Does the perspective have a dizzying effect or make us uneasy? Is it a landscape?

Elizabeth Magill (b.1959) explores the relationship between the Picturesque and Romantic traditions in art. Born in Ontario, Canada, she grew up in County Antrim and now lives and works in London. She studied firstly at the Belfast School of Art and later at the Slade School of Art. Magill has exhibited widely, including at Arnolfini, Limerick City Gallery of Art, IMMA, Hugh Lane Gallery, Tate, and in 0044: Contemporary Irish Art in Britain (1999) at PS1, New York.

Blue Constrictor (2006) by Elizabeth Magill is featured in lucid abnormalities (until March 2021) in our Gibson Galleries (Floor 1).

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