An innocent corruption

Billy Leahy looks at the new Desmond Shortt exhibition at the RHA: a collection of dreamlike landscapes which, upon further examination, reveal a more sinister and dangerous air

Desmond Shortt's paintings are unfashionable. It is not something that particularly bothers him – in fact, he freely admits this, perhaps even with a slightly veiled sense of pride. Having moved from an intellectual fascination with Jasper Johns and Robert Rauschenberg during his art school years, Shortt originally struggled to find his own visual language; one which he felt he could relate to on a personal rather than an overtly cerebral level. But soon, having discovered his own voice, Shortt was producing rich, theatrical fairytale-esque scenes steeped in vulnerability and exposed sexual susceptibility.

Shortt's subconscious is in a large manner responsible for Tales of Innocence & Corruption. And judging from his first major exhibition – which is being housed at the Ashford Gallery of the Royal Hibernian Academy until 22 September – what a remarkably unchecked, visually rich and aesthetically decadent place it must be. In fact, the only constraint Shortt appears to impose on his work is a strict 60cm squared size and some subtle compositional methods.

Taking the viewer through fantastical landscapes populated by princes, buck deer, sexualised and globular women as well as the odd boy-child and meek cartoonish lambs, Shortt is certainly not riding the contemporary art bandwagon as it swerves and jolts merrily through its latest fashions and fads.

Kitsch golden yellows, luminous greens and luxurious burgundy-reds stretch through the 22 works in Tales of Innocence & Corruption as Shortt creates opulent and original tapestries which draw from myth, religion, folktales and art history as they casually traverse the real and surreal without the slightest hint of brouhaha. Shortt's landscapes and scenes are dramatic and highly theatrical, which at first seem to present to the viewer a dreamlike escape to an idealised world before slowly revealing a more sinister, shady and dangerous air.

Perhaps this is Shortt's greatest success in Tales of Innocence & Corruption – the ability to seduce the viewer and gently pull them into what seems an almost maternal environment, before injecting a feeling of uneasiness and implanting ideas of impending danger. Traditional symbols of naïveté and vulnerability are presented in several works, but this sense of defencelessness and susceptibility becomes most intriguing when Shortt affords it a sexual edge.

In the three 'I Could Be Happy In...' works, Shortt presents highly-sexualised women, wading through pond water, captivated by their own form and vanity. The role of the male is one of subservience; something that is seen most clearly in the series of four works entitled 'The Birdcage'. Here, the female figure is immaculately presented wearing ball gowns, while a small dog in a tutu represents the tragic and ludicrous male figure. The man is completely dominated and overpowered by the female in the works as Shortt explores the mental and emotional conflicts between masculinity versus femininity.

Again in 'The Prince's Companions', Shortt presents us with images laden with symbols with a fox, buck deer, butterfly, flagstaff and plants accompanying the main character. Shortt prefers not to explain his symbols or narrative lines as it casts him in the role of lecturer, but suggests most interpretations of his work are quite accurate. He also believes that by not revealing his precise meaning, he allows the viewer to step more fully into, and enjoy his works in a physical way, and build up a relationship with the image. They may not be fashionable, but Shortt's works are highly intriguing landscapes crammed with innocence and corruption.

?More Tales of Innocence and Corruption continues at the RHA until 22 September. 01 661 2558. www.royalhibernianacademy.com