Aideen Barry × Patrick T. Murphy

I first encountered Aideen Barry’s work in the Claremorris Open Exhibition in 2004, it was striking in its ambition and image, Barry’s performance rocked the foundations of this important exhibition, sadly now defunded. Barry’s art is a broad practice incorporating performance, animation, drawings, sculpture and film. She requires such a diverse strategy to mine her subject matter which at once is both universal and personal. Barry’s focus is her own behaviour as blended by the politics of modern gender stereotyping and mythological/folkloric associations. The criticality of her creation is leavened by her slapstick sense of humour. Barry delivers profound commentary with a smile and a punch. Using stop-frame techniques her films and animations carry us into a world of neurosis and compulsion - an existence where the demands of motherhood, work, sexuality, politics, all vie for a piece of her (sometimes literally!). Generous, witty and insightful Barry’s art continues to absorb and challenge us, and don’t forget, to gloriously entertain us.

Patrick T Murphy is Director of the RHA Gallery. For the decade of the 1990s he directed and curated the Institute of Contemporary Art, Philadelphia. He has curated exhibitions of artists such as Tacita Dean, Marlene Dumas, Maria Simonds-Gooding, Robert Gober.