Abstraction: Jane Rainey, Lola Donoghue, Megan Burns and Beatriz Elorza: Dublin Gallery

Gormleys presents a group exhibition by four hugely talented abstract artists: Jane Rainey, Lola Donoghue, Megan Burns and Beatriz Elorza.

'Abstraction' explores the diverse approach they each take to the same painting genre. Drawn together by their interest in non-representational art and a preference for working in oils, the artists exhibit work that shows the diverse nature of abstract painting, and how colour, shape, space and composition can be used to express ideas and emotions.

The exhibition runs in our Dublin gallery from 6th – 23rd April 2023.

Jane Rainey
Jane Rainey (b.1992) is a painter based in Belfast. Since graduating from NCAD in 2014, Rainey has gained a strong following across Ireland and her work has been featured in numerous important exhibitions. These include the Hennessy Craig Exhibition at the RHA in 2022, 'Generation 2022, New Irish Painting' at the Butler Gallery in 2022 and ‘New Exits, 10 years of painting’ at the Mac in Belfast. In addition, she has had two solo exhibitions with the Molesworth gallery, Dublin.
Recent awards include a scholarship awarded by NCAD for a Masters in Fine Art (2014), and the John and Rachel Turner Bursary Award, from Ulster University (2014). Rainey was also shortlisted for the 2019 Merrion Plinth Award and the 2022 Hennessy Craig Award. Recent commissions include an installation for Meta Open Arts, Dublin (2022) and 'Project Art' Chapter One, Dublin (2017).
Speaking about her ethereal abstract landscape paintings, Rainey states, “The horizon line is always prominent in my paintings, as I love the idea of these spaces in the landscape that are unattainable,” “There’s an Irish term – thin places – that explains exactly what I’m trying to pinpoint: the places that give you a glimpse into the transience of life, the thin places in between heaven and earth. “Over time, I’ve been more inclined to look at the idea of the sublime transience within my work. “When I first started, the horizon line would have been solid, but now there is an idea of weightlessness – the realisation of thin places.”

Lola Donoghue
Lola Donoghue is a visual artist based in Galway, Ireland. She graduated from Limerick School of Art and Design with a First Class Honours degree in Fine Art Painting and a First Class Honours post-graduate diploma in Art and Design Education. She graduated top of her class receiving the highest grade in her year and received the Revenue Commissioner’s Award for her work. She taught for a number of years before returning full-time to her own professional practice.
Donoghue is best known for her large abstract oil paintings. Loosely drawn linear elements and saturated splashes of vivid colour, primarily occupy the edges of the compositions. The juxtaposition of these against large planes of muted tones, reveal the artist’s interest in the relationship between space, colour, and line.
“This current work is a further exploration of motherhood and being a working artist. It is inspired by the synchronicities of life and my routines, like the Whooper swans that take up residence in the local turlough every winter. My morning commute coincides with the swan's early flight in search of food after a long night. Each journey is no less necessary, each routine sustaining a way of life.”

Beatriz Elorza
After working as an architect, internationally renowned artist Beatriz Elorza began to study art in 2006. Elorza's work explores the beauty of nature and has been described as emotional abstract expressionism. Always using four colours or fewer, Elorza originals employ a wide range of media including inks, pigment powders and golden acrylics. While her ethereal canvases have a sense of calm, her intuitive process of drips and mark-making animates each image turning it into something strong and vital.
Elorza's artwork has been exhibited at the Wells Museum (UK), has been part of the Summer Exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London and can be found in the collection of the Tsvetaev Museum in Moscow. She has exhibited internationally with solo exhibits in Madrid, London and New York along with group shows in Japan, Russia and Ireland.

Megan Burns
Megan Burns (b. 1991) is a painter based in Belfast who gained a BA in Fine Art from Carmarthen School of Art, Wales (2014), then returned home to gain an MA in Fine Art (2016) from Belfast School of Art. Since then, she has had two solo shows and exhibited work in a number of group shows across the UK and Ireland. She was shortlisted for the 2017 RDS Visual Arts Award, as well as the 2019 Hennessy Craig Award. Burns’ work was most recently on show at the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, as part of GENERATION 2022: New Irish Painting.
Burns’ work comprises colourful yet muted matt paintings on irregular cut boards consisting of geometric shapes that suggest architectural space.