About
I create mixed media work including collages, prints, paintings, and sculptures to explore deconstruction and post-structural ideology through a feminist lens. Working interdisciplinarily allows for the content or idea behind a work to dictate the methods and materials used.
“The art monster Frankensteins genres and texts and materials together, there is no good or bad, same or different, self or other, there is only matter combined with matter, and what does it do now?” – Lauren Elkin, Art Monsters, Pg.70
As our collective understanding of gender shifts and moves beyond the binary of male and female, cis-heteronormative, patriarchal depictions of the female body still remain at the forefront of mainstream media. Through my practice I explore how the presentation of female bodies and narratives have shifted by gathering imagery together from a range of sources and time periods. Ranging from the subtle kitsch of everyday tabloid pornography to devout artistic depictions of The Madonna.
Through intuitively layering imagery when collaging, ranging from pornographic to ecclesiastical to purely decorative, I explore the ennui and general sense of inauthenticity that stems from being overloaded with information. I conceal, gloss over, and scrape away imagery, until mere traces of figures can be found, in an endeavour to leave the viewer with an uncanny feeling. I’ve recently been influenced by the distressed aesthetics of frescoes excavated in archaeological sites such as Pompeii, specifically the way the artwork is embedded within the walls. In response I have been working with porous materials such as plaster to create compositions that feel as though they are embedded within the material.
I’m also interested in how textile materials, often stereotyped as feminine, and confined to crafts and decorative work, can be confronted in fine art. Recently I’ve been utilising lace patterns as motifs in prints and paintings. These patterns are reminiscent to me of the floorplans of religious structures such as St Peter’s Basilica.
I’m interested in subverting traditional methods of making and displaying work, endeavouring to create spaces with a haunted quality that feel as though they’ve recently been interacted with, for example, an imprint left on a cushion.
I create mixed media work including collages, prints, paintings, and sculptures to explore deconstruction and post-structural ideology through a feminist lens. Working interdisciplinarily allows for the content or idea behind a work to dictate the methods and materials used.
“The art monster Frankensteins genres and texts and materials together, there is no good or bad, same or different, self or other, there is only matter combined with matter, and what does it do now?” – Lauren Elkin, Art Monsters, Pg.70
As our collective understanding of gender shifts and moves beyond the binary of male and female, cis-heteronormative, patriarchal depictions of the female body still remain at the forefront of mainstream media. Through my practice I explore how the presentation of female bodies and narratives have shifted by gathering imagery together from a range of sources and time periods. Ranging from the subtle kitsch of everyday tabloid pornography to devout artistic depictions of The Madonna.
Through intuitively layering imagery when collaging, ranging from pornographic to ecclesiastical to purely decorative, I explore the ennui and general sense of inauthenticity that stems from being overloaded with information. I conceal, gloss over, and scrape away imagery, until mere traces of figures can be found, in an endeavour to leave the viewer with an uncanny feeling. I’ve recently been influenced by the distressed aesthetics of frescoes excavated in archaeological sites such as Pompeii, specifically the way the artwork is embedded within the walls. In response I have been working with porous materials such as plaster to create compositions that feel as though they are embedded within the material.
I’m also interested in how textile materials, often stereotyped as feminine, and confined to crafts and decorative work, can be confronted in fine art. Recently I’ve been utilising lace patterns as motifs in prints and paintings. These patterns are reminiscent to me of the floorplans of religious structures such as St Peter’s Basilica.
I’m interested in subverting traditional methods of making and displaying work, endeavouring to create spaces with a haunted quality that feel as though they’ve recently been interacted with, for example, an imprint left on a cushion.
Artist CV
Erin O’Sullivan currently lives and works in Hertfordshire
Selected Exhibitions
August 2024 - Now and Then (Part 2) VAS Dalkeith Palace
January 2024 - Embedded Bodies, The Barnes Garage
December 2023 - Threadbare, New Glasgow Society
May 2023 - Da Leth Part 2, French Street
January 2023 - Anatomical Implications, The Drawing Room
December 2022 - RSA 30 X 30 Exhibition
May 2022 - Sweet and Sour, Box Hub
April 2022 - End of Year Exhibition, Reid Gallery
January 2022 - Exhibit A, The RGI
July 2019 - Artsdepot Open Exhibition, Finchley, London
Awards
Visual Arts Scotland Graduate Showcase Award
Showcases
March 2022 – Testbed, Stow College
October 2021 – Drawing On Experience, Stow College
Publications
May 2023 – Da Leth Exhibition Catalogue
May 2021 – Domestic Labour Zine
Memberships
Visual Arts Scotland
Society of Scottish Artists
October 2021 – Drawing On Experience, Stow College
Publications
May 2023 – Da Leth Exhibition Catalogue
May 2021 – Domestic Labour Zine
Memberships
Visual Arts Scotland
Society of Scottish Artists
Volunteering
2023 – Helping with interpretation and events for the Migrant Voice “Putting ourselves in the picture” project in collaboration with Glasgow Museums
October 2021 - Volunteered at the CCA during COP 26 helping to deliver numerous events including workshops and panels.
October 2021 - Volunteered at the CCA during COP 26 helping to deliver numerous events including workshops and panels.