A solo show by Irish artist Noël O’Callaghan, the paintings and drawings in the show will be from her “Changelings” series. The “Nighttown” of the title references the Circe chapter of James Joyce’s Ulysses. The works, however, are not illustrations of scenes from this section of Ulysses, but rather find echoes in its atmosphere and mood.
Bleibtreu Strasse, in Charlottenburg, where the gallery is located, is the only street in Germany to be mentioned in Ulysses.An advertisement which the central character Leopold Bloom reads mentions Bleibtreustrasse 34 and triggers reminiscence, and there is a suggestion that his ancestors may have been connected to this street. The literal translation is “stay true”, a central theme of Ulysses. The exhibition opens on Wednesday 12th June at 19:00. On Bloomsday 16th June , the international celebration of James Joyce and his most famous literary work, the artist will do a “walk and talk” at 15.00 from number 3 to number 34. There will be readings from relevant sections of Ulysses, and musical episodes will occur.
Tuilleadh eolaisNoël O’ Callaghan has studios in both Berlin and West Cork. She was born and grew up in Cork City where her father, Diarmuid O´Ceallachain was a noted artist. She moved to Berlin in the mid 80s where she co-founded the speed-folk band Alice Brennen. She has exhibited widely with solo shows and juried events at galleries such as the Crawford Art Gallery, the RHA, the RUA and the Highlanes . Recent projects include Feathers for Rosa, a tribute to Rosa Luxemburg (in collaboration with Douglas Henderson) which showed at The New Theatre, Dublin last March and included painting, performance, music, poetry and film. This summer her work is showing in Dublin at The Olivier Cornet Gallery, and in July a solo show of her landscape work will be held at Cnoc Buí Art Centre, Union Hall. She has been awarded a 2-month residency at Uillinn Arts Centre, Skibbereen starting in August. She will be featured artist on “The Artist’s Well” podcast in June 2024.