Joyce Duffy

‘It’s a small world, but not if you have to clean it’, Barbara Kruger, 1990

“Joyce Duffy, painter, sculptor, performer, writer, satirist, comedienne and Domestic Goddess, has produced a prolific body of exhibitions and performances in Ireland and abroad over the last ten years. Art history, world politics, domestic cleaning, history, philosophy, popular culture and advertising are examined and deconstructed in her work. Perceptions of what constitutes real culture are questioned and notions of high art are challenged. Both become targets for Duffy’s satires and sometimes get ‘popularised’ in her video and performance pieces. Ideas of ‘value’ and ‘power’ are tested too. Whose values decide what is valuable? Who has power? Spin, cliché, catchphrases, slogans, old wives tales, platitudes and proverbs become her tools of attack. This language that generates meaning in public and private discourse is scrutinised for its origins and often found to be suspect remnants of bygone eras and politically incorrect phraseology. Sharp, witty, cutting, never boring, always surprising, Duffy uses humour as a key weapon to carry her message. Her humour humanises rather than compromises the seriousness of much of her ideas.”
Carissa Farrell, Visual Arts Officer, Draíocht (2004)

In this exhibition, Clean and Decent, Joyce Duffy takes the contemporary social obsession with cleanliness and relates it to women, history, war, the Catholic church and cowboys!

Duffy graduated with a BA in Fine Art from NCAD in 1994.

This exhibition included an Opening Night performance from Joyce Duffy on 28 October in Draíocht’s Studio.