When worries and fears have nowhere to go, they bounce around inside your head, and get amplified more, until they become larger than life. It’s when you share these thoughts that you realise they are far ‘Better Out Than In.’
BeLonG To have recently seen a huge increase in the number of LGBTI+ young people reaching out for support about their mental health – with a 113% increase in demand for their support services in the past year. Continue Reading »
John O’Brien, The Everyman and The Civic Present the premiere of
Written by Éadaoin O’Donoghue
Directed by John O’Brien
Preview Thursday 23 September
Friday 24 – Saturday 25 September, 8pm
https://everymancork.com/events/heart-of-a-dog-by-eadaoin-odonoghue/
Heart of a Dog, a new play by Éadaoin O’Donoghue, will premiere at The Everyman on September 23rd, before touring to The Civic as part of Dublin Theatre Festival. It will be the first show in front of a live audience on The Everyman stage in more than 18 months. Continue Reading »
Wildcard Distribution have launched the official trailer for new Dublin-set comedy DEADLY CUTS. The film will hit cinemas nationwide on Friday 8th October.
Starring Angeline Ball (The Commitments, Shameless), Ericka Roe (Herself, Dublin Murders), Lauren Larkin (Love/Hate), Shauna Higgins (Dating Amber, Red Rock) and Victoria Smurfit (Once Upon A Time, Marcella) with Aidan McArdle (Black 47, The Fall) and Pauline McLynn (Father Ted), DEADLY CUTS follows the stylists of a Dublin hair salon, who become accidental vigilantes, as they take on a local gang threatening their community. Continue Reading »
Internationally famous Irish contemporary artist Maser will unveil his first gallery exhibition, Bookmarks In Time, at Gormleys Fine Art in Dublin on September 9 – Image: Johnny Mallin.
Internationally famous Irish contemporary artist, Maser, is set to unveil his first gallery exhibition at Gormleys Fine Art in Dublin, opening on September 9.
‘Bookmarks In Time’ is the first time he will be showing a full body of original canvas works in Ireland.
Maser, 40, who lives in south Dublin, has generated a significant worldwide following for his unique graphic style, and now hopes to forge a path for other street artists, by making the jump to a leading contemporary gallery.
Over the past 20 years, he has collaborated with President Michael D Higgins, U2, Brown Thomas, The National Gallery, the National Library, The National Print Museum, and created large murals in locations such as Australia, The States, UK, Uganda, Nepal, across Europe, and Hawaii.
Maser’s art is influenced by optical and mid-century art, and is regularly complemented with bold colours, pattern overlays, and gestural forms.
Initially evolved through street art, his style conveys an uplifting and socially conscious message to the viewer, and he is unafraid to experiment with any artistic format.
“The move to Gormleys will allow me to exhibit at a much larger scale canvas works, while reaching a wider audience,” said Maser.
“The inspiration for the collection came from me resorting to nature as a saviour, hiking and travelling around Ireland.
“Elements within the paintings are visual tokens I collected while outdoors either through memory or visual record.
“The exhibition paintings will be around five-foot square – with a big canvas I can have a loose arm and you can see my gestural movement.
“I see this as an example of adapting my traits from street art and staying true to my heritage.”
As an example of scale, he is currently creating a 10-foot by 20-foot piece for the Beijing international Art Biennale.
“Coming from an outdoor space, my arm just loves to paint bigger,” said Maser.
The exhibition will consist of ten large-scale and five smaller paintings, which he terms as his most considered collection.
A lot of the pieces will then be developed into sculptural pieces, as Maser begins to branch from 2D to 3D.
“It will still be in the realms of what I do, just in a post-graffiti sense,” said Maser.
“This step into a contemporary gallery is a first for Irish street artists as it has been our peers internationally that have previously made the jump.
“Street artists are bridging gaps everywhere, and there are versions of me all over the world.
“I want to use the opportunity to demonstrate that public and street artists are fine artists.
“When you look at my paintings, gestures look effortless, but they are very considered.”
The driving narrative of the collection is its content, but it is also focused on the context of time in which it is painted.
“While I coach myself to be as present as possible, for my work, I think ahead with the hope that people can look back on these paintings and pull the positives of this shared time,” said Maser.
“I do that through colour, form, interrelationship and dismantling formal teachings.”
Bookmarks In Time runs in Gormleys Fine Art, South Frederick Street, Dublin, from September 9, for three weeks. Further details at: gormleys.ie
A new and unknown artist, Stefan Varga, based in Malta, has been releasing music for little less than a year.
Now he has released an LGBTQ-themed single, Identity, which went on sale on Friday last.
This year, after reading about so many horrific attacks on gay men around the world, being killed for simply being who they are, Stefan felt he must become more active. He moved to Malta from the UK, where he had lived for 11 years, and knows that both countries are quite accepting of LGBTIQ+ communities, however, there are still way too many attacks happening elsewhere in the world.
“People need educating. They need to have their eyes opened” he says. As an LGBTIQ+ artist, Stefan thinks his role is to address such issues via music. Continue Reading »
The extraordinary true story of eccentric British artist, Louis Wain (Benedict Cumberbatch), whose playful, sometimes even psychedelic pictures helped to transform the public’s perception of cats forever. Moving from the late 1800s through to the 1930s, we follow the incredible adventures of this inspiring, unsung hero, as he seeks to unlock the ‘electrical’ mysteries of the world and, in so doing, to better understand his own life, and the profound love he shared with his wife, Emily Richardson (Claire Foy).
The clip debut offers audiences a first glimpse of Academy Award® Nominee and BAFTA-winning Benedict Cumberbatch (Doctor Strange, Patrick Melrose, The Imitation Game) as forgotten British artist, Louis Wain, in the extraordinary true story of a brilliant but troubled soul, whose fascination with the mysteries of the world is both complicated and deepened, when he meets the love of his life, Emily, played by Emmy® Winner and BAFTA Nominee Claire Foy (The Crown, First Man).
Amazon Studios will release the film theatrically and on Prime Video later this year, with STUDIOCANAL releasing the film in-cinemas across their territories – Ireland / UK, France, Germany, Australia & New Zealand early in 2022.
Follow THE ELECTRICAL LIFE OF LOUIS WAIN on Instagram: @louiswainmovie
Review By Frances Winston
Directed by: Billy Crystal – Starring: Billy Crystal, Tiffany Haddish, Penn Badgley, Laura Benanti, Louisa Krause
In cinemas now!
If you’ve ever seen the Little Britain sketch where David Walliams plays Dennis Waterman, and insists that he will write the theme tune, and sing the theme tune, on every project, you will somewhat get the gist of this. Written by, produced by, directed by, and starring Billy Crystal, this is pretty much a one man show. I’m actually surprised he wasn’t also cameraman and editor. Continue Reading »
Gig review by Frances Winston
Royseven at the Grand Social
September 1st 2021
It’s been a long 18 months since I was able to review an actual live show, so you’ll have to forgive me if I am a tad emotional writing this. While the government favoured sporting activities when it came to the reopening, the arts have been treated shambolically (don’t even get me started on this topic).
When Royseven announced they were reforming back in February after a hiatus, it was extremely exciting, as I’ve been a fan since their early days, but to then have the opportunity to attend an actual gig was truly amazing.
The last time I saw these guys live, they were playing the 3 Arena (supporting Duran Duran). But with CoVid restrictions limiting numbers at the moment (if they’d called it a GAA match they could have had thousands there) the venue for their first gig in front of an audience in years was the Grand Social. A wonderful venue, but not one you’d usually expect to see a band of Royseven’s stature in.
No review of a post pandemic (are we post pandemic?) gig would be complete without explaining how they managed it. The tickets were extremely limited. There were around 50 people at the show, which made it feel truly intimate, but also served as a reminder of what has been going on in the world for the past year and a half.
CoVid passports were scanned, and masks were required when moving around. It took place in the Grand Social’s terrace, which is technically an outdoor space but indoors. Basically, if you’re a curtain twitcher, jog on, because nothing to see here. It was completely within regulations. Not really sex, drugs, and rock ‘n’ roll, but after so long starved of live music, we take what we can get.
The excitement in the room was palpable. Everybody was so grateful to be able to attend a show again. Indeed, my friend was close to tears at the normalcy of it all at one point. At 8.30 pm, Brad Heidi took to the stage to warm up the crowd. This singer-songwriter is a new talent, and his music literally speaks to your soul. He has an imminent album, and you can find his music on all the usual outlets, so do check him out. I got shades of a young Brian Kennedy from him.
He was warmly received by the… I want to say crowd, but thanks to restrictions we were more of a collective. Although when Royseven entered the room you would have thought there were several hundred people there, as the room went wild.
Usually for review purposes, I attend a gig very impartially, but in this case I was just so thrilled to be back in a venue with a band, that I worried that perhaps I had hyped this up so much in my head it wouldn’t live up to expectations. I appreciate this is unprofessional of a reviewer, I but I’m a human who has been starved of live music first and foremost. Anyway, I needn’t have worried.
From the moment they took to the stage, they were fantastic, They tore through all their hits, such as No Romance, Killer, and the iconic We Should Be Lovers, as the attendees sang along. Their sound was incredibly tight, and new songs were greeted enthusiastically.
The intimate setting saw singer, Paul Walsh, confide things, such as forgetting the lyrics to songs in his segues, and while the numbers were enforced and not a choice of the venue or the band, it actually helped make this gig even more special.
Even the fact that we weren’t allowed dance couldn’t dampen our enthusiasm, and by the end of the show the audience were exhausted from clapping and singing along (all we were allowed to do).
Hopefully, the next time I see Royseven, they will be allowed a proper crowd, and we will be allowed to properly react to their performance. But for a first post-lockdown gig, this was a wonderful show.
Afghanistan – Image: britannica.com
LGBT+ Afghans said on Friday they felt abandoned by the international community, as the closure of Kabul airport to passengers this week shattered their hopes of fleeing Taliban rule.
Many LGBT+ people have gone into hiding since the Islamist militia seized power last month, fearing a return to the group’s harsh 1996-2001 rule, when it enforced a radical form of sharia, or Islamic law. Continue Reading »
Hailey Danz – Image: triathlon.org
At an age when many LGBT+ teenagers are coming to terms with their sexuality, gay Paralympic medal-winner, Hailey Danz, was coping with a bone cancer diagnosis, and the decision to have her left leg amputated above the knee.
Danz, a triathlete, who won her second Paralympic silver medal at the 2020 Games in Tokyo, came out last year at the relatively late age of 29, and said the decision had proved “really liberating”. Continue Reading »
