Patrician Attrition // 2004
RHA Annual // RHA Gallagher Gallery // Dublin
Patricians Run Riot in Idol Shop
Patrician Pot-Hole
Gentrification of the Drumlins: St. Pat & His Lawfully Long Arms (after Orpen)
Accepted Rejected
ACCEPTED REJECTED
Earlier this year I entered three paintings into the Annual Exhibition at the Royal Hibernian Academy. I thought I’d be a cute huar and do some Tactical Painting without selling myself short but something that might be accepted. The plan was to entry the Lotto of making a few bob, which the Annual Exhibition is know to do. I knew a few people on the panel who liked my stuff and I reckoned they’d shout for my cause.
So off I went and painted 3 Saint Patrick pictures, which referred to historical painters. My hunch was right and my entry was fee well spent, as all three paintings were accepted. (The circled A on the label is not my own work, but is the handiwork of officialdom.)
Grand says me to myself I won’t have to collect them till the shows over.
But no, I get a call to remind me to collect an unaccepted piece on the rejected pick up date.
I heard rumour that the reason for its absence was because one of the Lads rang up early one morning (for some reason I picture him waking up in the middle of the night in the cold sweats) to state his concern about hanging up the painting with the (mild) obscenity on the walls of the Royal Hibernian Academy. A fast meeting of the members was called to deal with this potential hot potata. To put it another way, not everybody was there to deal with the amber alert. Suffice to say the suspect painting was ejected from the exhibition and sent down to the basement.
Have a little look at the offending painting for yourself.
But as we are in the Academy we should do our best to uphold time honoured traditions and use the white gloves as a mark of respect when handling this piece of filth.