Gallery visit of the week: Eilis O'Connell at the RHA

I've decided this semester I'm going to try to see at least one new show/visit one new gallery each week, to try to branch out. I revisited the Royal Hibernian Academy gallery two days in a row because I loved one exhibit so much. Plus they were having a book sale.

Artist Eilis O'Connell's exhibit Haptic shows some of her recent work which is largely inspired by natural forms. She's well known for her large-scale outdoor bronze sculptures and many of the works in this show are similar but made in fiberglass to be lighter and more easily exhibited in a gallery context. The works that really stole the show for me, though, are a small set of natural/organic found object encased in blocks of resin. The pictures below don't do them justice; each one is an organic item beautiful on its own which is captured in a state of suspended animation, as if frozen in time. They are stunningly beautiful and really appeal to my love of cabinets of curiosities and natural history collections. I really desperately found myself wanting one (or all).

 This one was my favorite, and I'm peeved that I could not for the life of me get a good picture of it. It's almost otherworldly in person.