Your artist’s statement discusses a recent focus on the damage outdated conceptions of “masculinity” can have on contemporary young men. Does the theme of inherited identity present in this new focus have a connection to the exhibition on Irish identity? Why or why not?
In Ireland I think that traditional masculinity and traditional ‘Irishness’ both have roots in similar environments, such as The Church and a largely working class industrial and agricultural population. Both are transitioning to a world that is radically different, with a shift away from The Church and the diversification of the workforce to the I.T. sector and cities/urban development.
As such in many ways I think my work for this exhibition can be a commentary on both a ‘masculine’ or an ‘Irish’ search for contemporary identity.
What liberties and limitations does printmaking as a medium allow?
I often say that if I was allowed to make the piece that I initially had in my head it would always be worse than the piece that I end up making, and part of this is because the process of making a print puts its direction on the works regardless of the intentions of the artist, and to me I find this is what allows for an element of surprise and newness to emerge.
For me it is the ‘limitations’ of print that force me to be freer with the work, to let the forces of chance at work within a structured environment.
