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.

The Launderette opened early in 2005 but took the decision to close for business reasons with proprietor Ray Crowley now working in project management.

Crowley said: "I had never envisaged it going on for more than two or three years; it was definitely a project with a fixed lifespan but it is a pity that it is closed. However, I enjoyed my time in the gallery enormously."

A spokesperson for the Form Gallery acknowledged that it was very disappointing to be closed, just when a show by artist Rachel Ballagh was due to open, but said they had given it a good shot.

However, the Form Gallery has relocated to London with its first show including the work of rising young Irish artists Martin Finnin, Glen Fitzgerald and Amy O'Riordan.

Anthony Ruby, one of Cork's most prominent young artists, who had a solo exhibition at The Launderette last November, said yesterday, "I was very surprised I thought it was here for the long haul.

"Galleries like The Launderette and Form offered a glimmer of hope for the younger artists in the city without a gallery to represent them. Personally, I was very disappointed and I even wondered, 'am I in the right place?' when things like this happen how can a young scene survive at all?"