John Cronin is exhibiting ten new paintings, including one large triptych measuring six by twelve feet. Entitled The Devil’s Interval, the exhibition refers to the discordant tri-tone notes in music composition which, in the Middle Ages, were banned by the Church. The tritone is a restless interval, classed as a dissonance in Western music from the early Middle Ages through the end of the common practice period. The name ("the Devil in music") has been applied to the interval from at least the early eighteenth century. Inducing aural vertigo, the tritone was initially considered disruptive or used as a tool in musical compositions to produce highly emotional responses. The composer Wagner was known to include them in his work. However, by the 20th Century these tri-tone notes have come to be used as a neutral interval in the composition

For Cronin, the history of this musical construction, is reflected in this body of work. His oil on aluminium works are at once highly charged, and compositionally lyrical. Cronin’s trademark swathes of paint are applied in pools and strokes which are interrupted, pulled and dragged and re-applied. Veils of luminous paint vertically cross horizontal ribbons of colour. Pools of liquid-looking colour meet dry rasping planes of texture. Cronin refers to this disjuncture in his work when he describes the process of making work, and particularly of editing the processes by which he works. In reference to the Church’s ban on the tritone notes in music composition, Cronin has said that he often finds himself unconsciously censoring his working practice, of applying rules for his artistic expression. He then has to reverse these self-imposed restrictions by embracing possibilities, and exploring previously unconsidered paths. The total effect of Cronin’s work is at once a satisfyingly robust visual performance and a dissonant flash of something unfamiliar.

Donald Kuspit who wrote the essay for Cronin’s 2005 publication has said of his work:

Cronin offers us a new abstract “musical painting,” as both Greenberg and Kandinsky called it – one in which seemingly staccato brush strokes converge in a new harmony. Like them Cronin is a romantic, but his romanticism is less troubled and violent….We might say that where Kandinsky and Pollock orchestrate on a grand scale, Cronin’s paintings are chamber music. Their romanticism is concentrated and insinuating rather than cosmic and outspoken, which makes for a deeper emotional as well as sensuous experience…

The next exhibition will be new work by Bridget Riley which will open 24 May and run through to the end of June. If you require any further information please contact Jerome O Drisceoil, Molly Sullivan or Louise Ward

Paul Doran’s fourth solo exhibition at Green On Red Gallery entitled 'Metamorphosis' will surprise many of his devotees who are familiar with the intimate scale of his canvases to-date. This exhibition will be comprised of four major paintings each approximately 5 x 5 ½ feet as well as a dramatic wall of sixteen smaller works.

In an art-world where instantly recognizable, stylized painting is dominant, Paul Doran’s paintings don’t yappear to easily fit in. “I want to paint things that I have never seen before, but which at the same time, feel completely familiar.” Doran’s paintings suggest strange spaces, abandoned things and emerging forms. It will therefore come as no surprise that Franz Kafka’s The Metamorphosis (1915) is one of Doran’s favourite pieces of literature and had a profound impact when he first read it. Every time Doran paints, he paints from scratch, as if he had the chance to begin creation again. Spaces emerge, albeit ones that are contradictory and confused, forms are stacked, knocked, pulled and thrown and in many cases, colour is reduced to essentials, to create a mood or time. Paintings appear to be provisional, like half-remembered ideas, or like the effort of recollecting an over-heard conversation: Giotto talking to Masaccio, talking to Uccello, talking to Piero… Picasso talking to Guston and Guston talking to them all (while Kafka shouts in his ear!)

Doran was the recipient of the prestigious AIB Prize in 2005. His work has been exhibited in Basel, New York, Miami, and Stuttgart and is in the collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, An Chomhairle Ealaíon/The Arts Council, Allied Irish Bank and Bank of Ireland’s collections and numerous private collections in Ireland, Europe, Hong Kong and the United States,

Forthcoming solo exhibitions include Galerie Katharina Krohn, Basel and the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny.

Gallery hours are Mon-Fri 10-6; Sat 11-5.

Should you require further information please contact Jerome O Drisceoil, Molly Sullivan, or Amy Walsh at Green On Red Gallery 26-28 Lombard Street East Dublin 2

Prints by Daniel Buren, Philip Guston, Ellsworth Kelly, Michael Craig-Martin, Paul Mosse, Bruce Nauman, Bridget Riley and Richard Serra.

With thanks to Gemini G.E.L, Los Angeles and Alan Cristea Gallery, London

For further information contact Jerome O Drisceoil, Molly Sullivan or Amy Walsh at the Gallery for further details.