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.
Eleanor McCaughey is an Irish artist living and working in Dublin. Eleanor has exhibited both nationally and internationally including, The Dock, Pallas Projects, Ireland, Galerie C.O.A, Canada, Richard Heller Gallery, LA. and the National Portrait Gallery, London. She has been awarded the Temple Bar Gallery Studio Award 2020, The Arts Council Ireland, Next Generation Award 2018, the Conor Prize for a figurative work from the Royal Ulster Academy, and the KM Evans Painting Prize, from the Royal Hibernian Academy. Her work is represented in the OPW art collection and private collections in Ireland, Europe, United States and Canada.
eleanormccauhey.net