Two tales of a city

Billy Leahy speaks to Ross McDonnell and Noel Brennan as they launch their joint exhibition, Warsaw, at the Goethe Institute, Dublin

 Noel Brennan and Ross McDonnell have just recovered from a severe fit of cabin fever. It's lunchtime on the day of the opening and the two Dublin artists seem relieved to have emerged intact after spending a full month of 12-hour days together in one of the smallest exhibition spaces in the country. The pair casually sip coffee, appearing more than a little relaxed in a room that must now feel like a second home. An air of attainment is definitely palpable – the month of labour is over, the baby has been born and its name is Warsaw.
The exhibition contains scenes from Cuba and Paris, draws inspiration from Dublin, and is housed at the Goethe-Institut on Merrion Square – Germany's cultural outpost in Ireland. The city of Warsaw, it would seem, has nothing to do with show either geographically or thematically. Apart from the fact that it is a “pleasant word to speak”, the title of the exhibition remains practically unexplained. Soon, however, it transpires that it was mainly down to its anti-thematic and ambiguous nature that it was finally settled on by McDonnell, Brennan and exhibition programmer Gavin Delahunty – though each of them still had other reasons for liking it.
For their first collaborative project, McDonnell has produced three frescoes, while Brennan has created an angular woodcutting sculpture that only through careful consideration and enforced discipline escapes becoming an instillation. Brennan's sculpture, he explains, possesses its own internal logic and is designed to stand and exist by itself. A dynamic tension is created as the work references the external work, especially boom-time Dublin, but still manages to hold on to the formal criteria of the interior. The idea of tension is key in Brennan's work, which attacks the space aggressively but at the same time attempts to weaken itself and the space around it.
The compositional element of Brennan's work is mirrored in that of McDonnell, who, by abandoning his usual mdf for fresco, imports a more sculptural element to his paintings, which use composition demands to aid the choice of pattern. Another overlap is the strong role played by the actual process of production. This is easy to see on Brennan's sculpture, but is more understated in McDonnell's work. Using a photograph as a starting point, McDonnell uses the natural absorption of the plaster to create a layering in the work, before it is primed and sealed. What initially results is a two-tone base on top of which maybe two more layers are added to produce a ‘metaphysical architecture' underpinned by the overall flatness of the work.
By their fundamental nature, joint exhibitions and collaborations between artists are dangerous territory; there are many potential pitfalls. A lack of balance is one of the main hazards that can completely undermine a show and with Brennan and McDonnell using completely different artistic languages for their show, this risk is heightened even further.
But Warsaw definitely works. Perhaps this success is partially built on the fact that McDonnell and Brennan's friendship pre-dates the exhibition and that they have “forced and encouraged each other to work”, despite their completely opposite practises. This factor has clearly defused any prospective arguments over territory, with both artists listening and responding to each other's advice and – most importantly – putting the exhibition as a whole ahead of their own personal interests.
Throughout their month at the Goethe-Institut, Brennan reveals, there was continuous dialogue and their near-incessant artistic debate spilt over into their social lives to such an extent that they began to fear losing friends and pushing girlfriends into a permanent state of dementia. If it is any consolation to their nearest and dearest, McDonnell and Brennan's monothematic conversations have paid dividends.
∏More Warsaw runs as the Goethe-Institut Dublin, 37 Merrion Square, D2 until 29 October. 01 661 1155. www.goethe.de/gr/dub/enpausst.htm