A STUNNING portrait of a Kerry star out-fielding two Donegal players will form the centerpiece of an eagerly-anticipated exhibition that will open in Killarney just in time for Sunday’s glamour All-Ireland football final.
The splendid oil painting, simply titled Kerry v Donegal, shows a muscular, green and gold clad Kerry warrior rising high in Croke Park to pluck the ball from the clouds with an alert Kingdom corner forward watching for the breaking ball.
The eye-catching, action-packed work of art comes from the brush of retired garda detective Paul Downey, a native of Kilmacthomas, Co Waterford who has been based in Killarney for several years.
The attention to detail in the colourful and busy painting is quite incredible and it demonstrates, yet again, why Downey’s work is so highly sought after and valued.
It will feature in a Last of the Summer Wine exhibition at the Frank Lewis Gallery which will also include a number of Kerry landscape paintings by the late Joop Smits, Michael McCarthy, Robert Egginton and Derry Shannon.
The exhibition, which will continue until October 11, will be officially opened by author and storyteller Felicity Hayes-McCoy on National Culture Night on Friday.
The occasion will be marked with a celebration of all the arts – including poetry, music, song, drama and dance – at gallery from 7.00pm to 9.00pm.
Various acts will take centre stage at 10-minute intervals and highlights will include the story of the Northern Ireland troubles sung by Ronnie Hakin and Chris Barrow, a story and poem to mark the Eamon Kelly centenary, performed by his sister Bríd Sugrue, a drama on how one woman copes with major change, featuring Killarney’s own Liz Ryan, and the story of Brendan Behan’s Kerry connections to mark the 50th anniversary of his death.
