Art Space Activity; Gallery Zozimus

It has been over 10 years since Gallery Zozimus first opened in Dublin 8 and while other galleries on Francis Street have moved on, Zozimus is still going strong. And although it is only two rooms, the gallery boasts the largest ceramics collection in Ireland as well as a diverse collection of paintings.

“I’m quite happy here, in 10 years we’ve built up a good collection of clients that come to us for our work, we have repeat business all the time,” says Vincent Kelly, the managing director at Zozimus.

The fact that no space in the room is left empty is testimony to Kelly’s statement. Every inch of wall sports a painting or sculpture, from abstracts to landscapes and bronzes to ceramics.

Most of the art is of Irish origin and many of these artists now come to Zozimus to promote their work. “In the beginning, we reached out to them but now they come to us because we are well established and fairly well known in Ireland and artist would come to us to show us their portfolios,” explains Kelly.

Zozimus host about eight exhibitions a year and are gearing up for their spring exhibition which will feature four international Russian artists; Andrey Demin, Maria Scherbinina, Svetlana Rumak, and Ilya Zomb.

In addition to paintings and sculptures, one of the two rooms at Zozimus is entirely devoted to the largest ceramics collection in Ireland.

Gallery Zozimus

“We hadn’t thought about going into ceramic art when we set it up, even though we had a passion for it ourselves,” Kelly says humorously, “but recession made us rethink and we decided we would start doing more and more ceramics and now as I said we have 80 and the largest ceramic gallery in Ireland that we are delighted with.”

Indeed, every wall is hidden behind shelves, stacked with colourful pottery, bowls and figures that are every bit as elaborate as the paintings in the next room. Kelly emphasises, “We treat it as an art form…. some people think when you mention the word art, they think of paintings and sculptures, but ceramic is a beautiful art form.”

Zozimus remains the last of its kind on Francis Street, which was once defined by galleries offering art work of their own. Now Gallery Zozimus single handedly carries the torch.  

Still Kelly warmly states, “I still love to see people come in even if they’re not buying, just to have a look at what we have up or view our new exhibition…. we are delighted with that.”