A gallery of eccentric guests: where paintings talk back

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A salon of the unexpected

Lismore Castle Arts isn’t just an exhibition; it’s an invitation to a deliberately chaotic gathering. Mismatched chairs—a gothic throne jostling for space with a wing-backed recliner—point towards a series of white-painted windows, framing 43 seemingly disparate paintings. It’s a peculiar game of visual roulette, and the question isn't which painting to choose, but who to spend your time with.

Margot bergman’s ‘outliers’ – a surreal shuffle

Amongst the assembled artists, Margot Bergman’s ‘Bait’ stands out, a jarring collision of surrealism and what curator Lynne Cook labels ‘outlier’ art. The juxtapositions are startling, initially suggesting a shared eccentricity but hinting at something far more complex. There’s a nonagenarian jazz musician, a night orderly from a psychiatric institution, and the ex-manager of the Clash – a ragtag collection, united only by the paint on their canvases and, it seems, a shared willingness to defy expectations.

Beyond the academic buzzwords

Matthew Higgs, the gallery’s orchestrator, understands this. His approach – showcasing artists on the strength of a chance encounter, providing no justification beyond a belief in their contribution to the conversation – deliberately sidesteps the art world’s tendency towards elaborate, jargon-laden explanations. It’s a refreshingly direct approach, a relief from lectures on ecological catastrophe or the crisis in masculinity.

Time, a chair, and a revelation

The show’s core principle is deceptively simple: look closely, and something will reveal itself. I spent an uncomfortable 20 minutes with Mike Silva's houseplant, only to discover a complex pattern emerging from the tangle of stems. But the real magic occurs when you surrender to the experience, finding yourself captivated by a Stephen McKenna cloudscape that transforms into a world of feeling. Don’t be surprised if security guards take notice – prolonged engagement with these works tends to attract their attention. Higgs’s gallery isn’t designed for efficient viewing; it's built for lingering, for letting a painting speak to you, ideally, while perched comfortably in a chair.

And frankly, it’s a remarkably subversive act.