40 days & 40 nights

3 ply marys

Ink drawings done on 3 ply tissues, then peeled back to reveal a blotted line style drawing, distorting the figure. I like the idea of Mary Magdelene as "temptress", a flame haired prostitute etc... speculation around her role in the bible and her dipiction in biblical images as a red haired, lost soul, looking to the heavens really interest me. There is something which says 'defenseless woman' to me and reminds me of a Vermeer painting.  I guess the first time a prostitute was ever explained to me I was 10 and had encountered the word in the bible, I asked my mother what it was.. also the first time I had heard my mother say the word 'sex'... which threw me completely!!

works in progress, march 2012

Two video pieces I'm working on as part of installation work.... unfinished, but interesting non the less

she's lost all the weight off her face....

 pause, touch, engage.......

Mirror Machine Exhibition, Bluewall Gallery

An exhibition of video works by 7 artists practising in Northern Ireland

Louise Shine, Jenny Keane, Ciaran Hussey, Allan Hughes, Laura O'Connor, Paola Bernardelli & Linda Monks

co-curated by Joe Keenan & Laura O'Connor

Laura O'Connor, Jane Fonda

Linda Monks, Sylvanienders

Paola Bernardelli, Jac & Johanna

Jenny Keane, Chord (projection), Dracphylia (monitor)

Louise Shine, (screens on plinths),test card, watching tv & putting away the messages

Allan Hughes, (monitor on crate with bracket) The Listening Station 1

Installation on Ashe Street Cavan

works by Jenny Keane, Ingeminated Battology (left) & Ciaran Hussey, Conveyor Masses (right)

Opening Speeches with Laura & Joe

Some shots of the exhibition installation

MFA Show 2011

 

MFA Midterm show 2011

Two screens showing the same image in different locations of the exhibition. The image is of a woman dressed in a fur hat and fur coat posing in a portrait style, possibly a contemporary image of a magazine cover-shot or an old portrait painting, placed in an anonymous setting looking out from the screen desperately trying to hold a smile in order to please the viewer or hide her boredom.

In View @ Golden Thread Gallery December 2010

In View
10th December 2010 – 29th January 2011
Curated By Sarah McAvera & Peter Richards
In View is an exhibition that establishes a context from which to explore the tensions and dialogues concerned with the physical act of looking. The gaze holds multiple interpretations, such as the voyeuristic, scopophilic, erotic; and is as much dependant upon the viewer, as that which is being viewed. Each artist challenges us to consider our role as a viewer of the works on display, calling into question our gender, the gender of the artist, and our preconceived understanding of the subject, therefore highlighting the tensions that exist within the topic of the gaze.

In Vito Acconci’s video work Pryings (1971), his violent attempts to force open the eyes of his subject are difficult to watch, as is the challenging gaze of Laura O’Connor in her video work Dull, Limp, Lifeless (2010). Like O’Connor, Katherine Nolan encourages the viewer to watch her, and yet reprimands them for doing so. Her work, You Are a Very Naughty Boy! (2009), obscures our view of her at intervals, as if in punishment for gazing upon her scantily dressed body. The photographic works of Shaleen Temple take a slightly different approach, commenting on the level of control held by the gaze of the subject, the artist, and ourselves, the viewer. The exhibition also includes work from Phil Collins, Common Culture, Sara Greavu, Magaret Harrison, Noëmi Lakmaier , ORLAN, and Aine Phillips

Tommy McLoughlin Award

I'm delighted to say I was awarded with the Tommy McLoughlin bursary this year. It is something I have wanted for a while now, as I feel as an artist from Cavan it is an honour to receive such a prize. I am using the award to travel to the Frieze Art Fair in London and to go to Paris where I will be exploring the female art retrospective o from the past century in the George Pompidou Centre, 'Elles á Pompidou' and a number of other shows which are relative to my research.
I would like to thank Cavan County Council's Arts Office, Cavan Institute and the family of the late Tommy McLoughlin who have made this trip possible.

Bluewall show and artists talk

 




 

Delighted to report the exhibition 'Immersed' was a great success. Really loved doing a show with my friends and fellow artists, and of course showing in my favourite new gallery, the Bluewall, it was my pleasure as always to work with Joe, Jane and Jessie.

Dancing at the Crossroads Project

Public art project commissioned by Cavan Arts Office and Fleadh Cheoil na hEireann 2010.


Dancing at the Crossroads Project came from my want to create a public space in Cavan town that encourages event and spontaneous, un-organised performance. The essence of Dancing at the Crossroads, an old Irish tradition, was to gather different communities together on a Sunday evening for a ceili, at a time when public events were not approved of. The bandstand seemed like a logical structure for such a concept... and so The Dancing at the Crossroads Project transpired.

See www.dancingatthecrossroads.wordpress.com for more info