Lewis Opening

Main Street, Dingle

'West Kerry' an exhibition of paintings by Herbert Wilmsmeyer was officially opened at the Frank Lewis Gallery in Killarney on Tuesday evening, June 5th, by John Sheehan of The Dubliners. The opening also included music by Benny O'Carroll on guitar and Damian Mullane on accordian. The exhibition continues at the Frank Lewis Gallery Killarney until June 30th open from Monday to Saturday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.

Herbert Wilmsmeyer's paintings of West Kerry induce a sense of peace. And yet they don't compromise on the reality that Kerry, for all its natural beauty, is a place of harsh physical and economic realities. Perhaps it is the way the artist has focused on the essential, stripping away any distractions to such an extent, that a first, casual, response might be that these are hurried sketches. Nothing could be further from the truth.

Wilmsmeyer paints in the outdoors, close to nature. He is imbued with the place he is painting and the vitality and essence of each location is captured wonderfully in the seemingly simplistic nature of his art.

He art is always conscious of Nature it self and the terrifying forces it uses to shape the landscape we, sometimes, take for granted. When looking at the artist's magnificent Sybil Head and Dooneen, for example, one gets a sense of the relentless power of the Atlantic and how the seas hammering since the dawns of time have shaped the rugged beauty of the Kerry coastline.

Kilmurry, Three Sisters and Old Farmhouse, on the other hand, show man's determination and ingenuity in dealing with Nature – gathering rocks so the land can be cultivated and sheltering homes from driving wind and rain.

The close cluster of buildings by the sea in Brandon Harbour illustrates perfectly the interdependence of man. Survival demands that people form symbiotic relationships with their fellows and work with each other when faced with the harshness of Nature. A lesson, perhaps, that has not yet been learned in the war weary world of today.

Herbert Wilmsmeyer, who has been painting regularly in Ireland for a number of years, has presented his work in a number of solo exhibitions since 1985 and has been a fulltime artist since 1996. He has as broad a theoretical knowledge of Art as a practical basis having been a Professor of Fine Arts and the Theory and Teaching of Art.

To see the exhibition please drop by the Frank Lewis Gallery, 6 Brideswell Lane, just off of New Street in Killarney. The exhibition runs until June 30th open from Monday to Saturday from 9:00 am to 6:00 pm.

For more information please drop by the Gallery, call 064 31108 or log onto www.franklewisgallery.com