Eleanor McCaughey × Simon Fennessy Corcoran

Eleanor McCaughey’s work is an amalgamation of still life, sculpture and portraiture. McCaughey’s most recent work contemplates impenetrable forces shaping our society, from the ideological to the technological. For me, what truly rouses my interest in McCaughey’s practice is her unique blending of iconography, textures, and materiality to produce unique sculptural forms. These are in turn cleverly and skilfully translated into stunning paintings of these forms. A fascinating subplot within the work is the sense of dichotomy almost hidden within some of McCaughey’s work between Christian and Celtic imagery and motifs. All this is intermingled with cleverly thought-out installation set-up’s draped or dipped in “naff” or old-school colour combinations and materials. For McCaughey’s work ‘Mask’ in particular these elements combine to create a very strong piece of work which uses light to cast a large shadow which enlarges the paganistic face mask form made of plasticine and plaster. ‘Mask’ sits atop a plinth clad in a gorgeous textured and almost retro feel multicoloured foam material, reminiscent of an altar.

Simon Fennessy Corcoran is a curator and artist based in Galway City. His is the Chair of 126 Artist-Run Gallery, Curator/Coordinator of The Courthouse Gallery & Studios, Ennistymon, Co Clare, and co-organiser of Circuit Arts Festival.