Irish Art Now: From the Poetic to the Political

Reflecting the seismic changes in Ireland's political, social, economic, and cultural realities of the 1990s, contemporary Irish artists have begun to redefine identities, raising questions about the relationships between male and female, urban and rural, North and South, history and the present. The struggle over identities, which used to marginalize Ireland and societies like it, has now become central to debates around the globe.
This strikingly illustrated book presents a reading of Irish art in the 1990s and examines the repositioning of Irish identity in works drawn primarily from the collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin.
The artists examined, including Kathy Prendergast, Willie Doherty, and Alice Maher, have initiated a dialogue with their own society and others beyond Ireland, using painting, photography, sculpture, video, and installation to explore subjects ranging from the personal and poetic to the political. Their concerns - and the way they are conveyed through non-traditional materials and new interpretations of more conventional media - link these works to new art being made elsewhere in the world.
This publication accompanies an exhibition touring the United States and Canada.