At a time when BBC NI waved a magic wand to dissipate the art of comedy from our local lives, the Royal Ulster Academy of Arts launched its 145th exhibition at the Ulster Museum and on the launch day there was plenty of humour to be seen among the 350-plus exhibits on walls and tables. Cartoon and comical, soothing and disturbing.
Without a doubt there is astonishing talent in this little part of the world, so cheers to the Academy and boos to the BBC. In this year’s offerings, I discovered there can be a deeper meaning to art in general, that is coping with the modern curse of depression.
Both genres, painting and comedy, help alleviate despair, ease mental illness, take us into another world even for half an hour or longer. To be absorbed is a great thing, to put yourself and your life aside and concentrate on something pleasurable and taxing, is good medicine. After all don’t they say laughter is the best medicine?
Twin exhibits especially interested me, oil on canvas by Dan Dowling, both on the same theme, Time. Entitled, Measured Lives and Measured Lives 2, outside the City Hall Queen Victoria stands with a large egg timer in one hand and a heavy chain attached to a huge pocket watch in the other.
The time is 12.33 p.m. It’s dramatic. The bus is heading out of town, the stout businessmen, a youth and a younger women are all dashing to their destinations. They look stressed.
As Dan explained: “You’ll notice none are looking at each other, they are all under pressure to get somewhere and time is short. Their’s is a life of stress.”
No explanation necessary, the painting says it all. Even as I was standing chatting, a gentleman approached to ask if Number 2 was ‘gone or not’. “Not gone,” Dan told him, “I’ll have it then, thanks.” And £4,000 sealed the deal. No time wasting there!
In fact even on day one, the red dots on frames, denoting sold, were everywhere and hundreds of thousands of pounds changed hands in the first week. Hopefully many thousands more as the exhibition runs until January 3, 2027. There is such a diverse display of work showing intensity of detail, colours and textures, some beauty to the eye and some with a message, something to engage everyone.
Although not exhibiting this year, I found Noelle McAlinden, artist and former board member and former chair of the Academy education committee, admiring one of the more expensive works, Anthony Scott’s Redemption, a bronze figure with box steel base at £10,000.
It was a chance to talk to Noelle on how the arts have influenced her life as she has been part of RUA exhibitions for many years, has displayed round the world, and currently her works hang in the 1515 Lincoln Gallery in Oklahoma City.
It’s a remarkable story of coming to terms with grief following the tragic loss of two of her sisters, plus a diagnosis of cancer and looking after an ill father, and how she has reached out to mentor and support other artists having to find a way to cope with their own sadnesses and pressures.
She was born into a farming community in the small village of Maghery in Co Armagh on the shores of Lough Neagh, just off the M1 between Dungannon and Craigavon. The oldest of seven children, it was a challenging life and she says communication was important. The centre of community gatherings, entertainment and exhibitions, was the village hall and that’s where Noelle made her first public appearance.
I feel it’s important to mentor people and curate exhibitions as this gives so many an outlet for their creativity and a purpose, to have time for themselves, an escape from the pressures of everyday living
— Noelle McAlinden
“I was four and because my parents were at a funeral, my grandmother took me. I was dressed in a pink dress with a bow in my hair and when the music started I was in my element, dancing to cheers from the audience.” She pauses. “Then I fell.”
It could have gone one of two ways, to rush off the stage in tears or to get up and carry on, and that’s what she did.
“The clapping continued and when I looked my grandmother was leading the cheering! I had a feeling of being unsure of myself in the chaos but in later years I realised that life is indeed a stage and we’re all players and when it goes wrong you must get up and carry on as best you can.” Her interest in art began at primary school and it led her into teaching and she eventually became head of Art and Design at St. Aidan’s High School in Co Fermanagh.
Such is her conviction that art is an important therapy, she has worked in the prison sector, where she taught men from 18 to 83, from all walks of life and in the open prison for various reasons.
“It was one of the most inspirational things I’ve done,” she told me. “I soon realised you need to have compassion and emotional strength, however, you have to look after your own stress levels too and I always turn to painting, that’s why I feel it’s important to mentor people and curate exhibitions as this gives so many an outlet for their creativity and a purpose, to have time for themselves, an escape from the pressures of everyday living.”
There’s no end to Noelle’s interests and talents, she was High Sheriff of Fermanagh in 2023, is co-chair of Mental Health Arts in Northern Ireland, co-chair Centre for Contemporary Art, Derry and producer of The Art of Conversation on NVTV featuring art and healing. Despite all this, she still makes sure she takes time and strength from her painting,
Artworks take all shapes and forms. Belfast-born artist Tim Shaw, who now lives in Cornwall, is a member of the London Royal Academy of Art and a very political creator - very obvious in his latest work, part of the Academy summer exhibition and on show last week in the Cornish Bank in Falmouth, Cornwall.
Larger than life-size, Trump and Netanyahu stand face to face. They are fashioned from old pillows, clothes and stockings, modelled onto a steel framework.
“The work responds to a photograph in which Trump extends his right hand to Netanyahu, who clasps it with both hands. There’s a sense of bonhomie as the two look into each other’s eyes. At their feet lie the charred remnants of men’s, women’s and children’s clothing scattered across the gallery floor.”
He adds: “A roulette wheel is incorporated into the work as a reminder of the gamble these leaders have made with people’s lives, condemning countless others to suffering and oblivion.” The visitors were invited to write down their thoughts about these two warring men and pin them onto the figures. Art with a two-way statement. Interesting if the exhibition could move to the White House! All proceeds go to Doctors Without Borders.
More about the RUA exhibition at royalulsteracademy.org