Young artists lose out as galleries close

AT a time when the art market is awash with cash and artists have never had it so good, the news that the only things hanging in two local Cork art galleries are ‘to let’ signs has been greeted with some surprise.

The Form Gallery, which operated in the Paul Street Shopping Centre for over two years, and The Launderette, a boutique gallery in the former launderette on MacCurtain Street, which traded for less than a year, have both closed their doors for good.

With a continued economic boom, investors are casting around for opportunities to take a punt and the art market has benefited enormously with a recent RTÉ Art Lives programme specifically dedicated to the art investment market.