Adam's The Oliver Dowling Collection 11th September 2024

13 The works he chose to acquire conformed to the same exacting taste he applied to curating his exhibitions. He was at pains to ensure that every show was up to the standard of that Craig-Mar- tin solo. That includes the first solo shows by such notable Irish artists as Michael Coleman and Fergus Martin. Both artists are illustrative of his commitment to sensibility over style per se, in the way that their work, with a common grounding close to Minimalism, has developed and evolved independently over the years, often setting off in surprising directions. The American painter Jo Baer is another case in point. Her move to Ireland in 1975 marked her shift from Mini- malist Abstraction to what she terms “radical figuration.” The fact is that while Oliver was clearly drawn to Minimalist principles - especially a liking for the simplest, most elegant solution - he was also open to and excited by innovative work across a broad field, encompassing Conceptual- ism (Craig-Martin), Performance (Nigel Rolfe), Photo-text (Willie Doherty) and what might be described as a Zen-like free spirit, with an American West Coast accent in the case of Bob Janz. There’s a touch of Zen in the work of the fine, thoughtful abstract painter Jerry Zeniuk, and something comparable to Janz’s lyricism is evident in the concise creations of Mary Fitzgerald and Moya Bligh (who spent time in Japan). Patricia Douthwaite’s quirky free spirit clearly ap- pealed. A poetic flair is evident in the work of Joel Fisher whose Apopgraphs , based on fleeting, captured forms explore the area between, and the transition from immaterial transience to solid durability. Similarly, James Coleman’s Double Flash Piece is a very nuts-and-bolts outline of an installation that is fleeting and intangible in its manifestation. Artistic alchemy clearly appealed to Oliver, so it’s hardly surprising that he was instrumental in getting Joseph Beuys to come to Ireland. Beuys’ fame and influence in the fields of performance and installation, and as a perso- na, can tend to eclipse his extraordinary ability in painting and the graphic arts. The rigorous, Minimalist side of Oliver’s imagination also clearly drew him to the pared back work of Willie McKeown, to the exacting Ciarán Lennon, the logical explorations of Raimund Girke and of course Cecil King’s elegant, perfectly pitched compositions. One could add the sure feeling for monumental form central to the creations of the great Basque sculptor Eduardo Chillida, Spaniard Silverio Rivas, Spanish-Uruguayan painter and sculptor Leopoldo Nóvoa, the Northern Irish sculptor John Aiken, and the English sculptor Wendy Taylor. There is an evident liking for clarity of design and statement in representational works by Tom MacDonald, Derrick Greaves, and Katherine Richardson - who takes an analytical, deep-time approach to the landscape. By the time he launched the gallery, with his partner Cecil King as a significant background presence (as an exhibiting artist, King remained loyal to David Hendricks and continued to show with him until his death in 1986), Oliver had amassed a great deal of experience in the Irish art world, having worked on Rosc and as Visual Arts Officer with the Arts Council, a position he returned to in the late-1990s. He took the long view, noting how progressive individuals, such as Alice Berger Hammerschlag or Bet Low, could be important agents for cultural change. Al- ways innovative in his curatorial ambitions, he was also involved in the 1996 Parisian festival of Irish culture, L’Imaginaire Irlandaise and a driving force in the formidable, international Dublin Contemporary in 2011. The works that he collected along the way are a testament to one of the sharpest, most enquiring minds in the visual arts of his time.