Eleanor McCaughey - Instagram Takeover

My name is Eleanor McCaughey and I am the current artist commissioned to exhibit work with Draíocht Gallery, curated by Sharon Murphy.

I have been invited to do an Insta takeover giving me the opportunity to introduce myself and my practice to you and show you a glimpse of behind the scenes in the making of Whispers of rhythm balance on my hands.

I grew up in Fingal, Dublin and I am now living in Dublin city center close to my studio at The Complex. I have a multidisciplinary practice with a background in animation and graphic design.

My practice is a really important part of my life, It has become cathartic and It grounds me mentally and physically. My studio practice has helped me through a couple of tough patches in my life, it's definitely therapeutic for me.

For this exhibition titled Whispers of rhythm balance on my hands I have been researching and developing a new visual language that deals with themes of belonging, displacement, and the body, looking at theological and cosmic notions through a multifarious practice that includes installation, painting, sculpture, and video. I also enjoy collaborating with other artists, visual artists, poets and sound artists.

The work for Whispers of rhythm balance on my hands has been the most intuitive work to date. The more experience I have with my practice, I learn to trust myself more. The work becomes an extension of the self, with personal narratives oozing from the seams.

As a woman who has experienced endometriosis, infertility and premature ovarian failure, my work is a personal attempt to express what it is to live in a female body. Questioning the representation and construction of female social identity. I have posted a number of books & audio books that I have enjoyed reading and revisiting in preparation for this work.

For this process I was experimenting with the jungian technique of active imagination, trying to actively access the unconscious in waking life. In engaging in this way I can let imaginative compositions emerge often depicting figures and animals representing persons or the characteristics of an individual.

I’m very lucky to have a studio at The Complex on Arran Street East. There is a fantastic community of artists there that are very hard workers and are super supportive, it is an inspiring place to work from. I read somewhere that at the end of the day in the studio, always leave a task unfinished so you have something to work on straight away when you return the next day. This has been a helpful strategy for me to become more disciplined.

There is an important focus on materials in my work, I will experiment with whatever I can get my hands on. The size of the studio space also influences qualities of the work and its output, for example, the scale of the work or the materiality of the work.

The paintings in Draíocht are oil on Fabriano paper, mounted on gesso panels. I tried to steer away from my usual palette for this exhibition. Keeping to just a few colours that I mixed into various tints, tones and shades. I introduced R&F handmade oil sticks to these paintings which help with impulsive mark making, which I am still currently experimenting with.

I see sculpture and installation in my practice as an extension of my painting. I see the 3d pieces in the exhibition like a painting that is pulled apart, deconstructing it into various parts and plains. Sometimes I think I still see my work through an animator's eyes, looking at art works in compositional terms with the push and pull of background, middleground and foreground.

The sculptures are forms that are plucked from painting compositions and molded into lost objects, like mementos from other worlds. They usually mimic attributes from the 2d painting works for example, the colour palette, texture, mark making or form. I have continued to experiment with different papers in the work in Draiocht. I have used collage with paper, card, tissue paper and fabric for the two installation pieces. I look at my installation pieces in the space as suspended backgrounds, luring the viewer into taking center-stage in their own narrative.

After working with such a generous and supportive team in Draiocht, it has given me a new drive in my practice. I am currently in full flow of making new work for exhibition in October. I am continuing my conceptual research and experimenting with new techniques and materials in the studio. Recently I have been very fortunate to have wood carver Michael Ryan teach me some basic techniques in wood carving and I have also been experimenting with encaustic painting for these new works.

A sea change, into something rich and strange takes place on October 10th at The Ashford Gallery ,RHA, Dublin. This work takes conceptual and aesthetic queues from the perpetually shifting coastal environment of Rossnowlagh, in Donegal The exhibition will be accompanied by a newly commissioned work by poet Jill Kenny.

Thanks to everybody who tuned in over the week and to Draiocht for their support.
I’ll sign off with a wonderful quote by Patti Smith sent to me today by a good pal.

“It's very important to keep your enthusiasm, to maintain the language of enthusiasm, to be curious, to keep working. And, those are the kind of things that keep us agile and keep us vibrant and healthy.” Patti Smith