Doireann Gillan The Party's Over 14 - 23 November 2024 Private View: Thursday 14 November, 6-8pm

 

Doireann Gillan The Party's Over 14 - 23 November 2024 Private View: Thursday 14 November, 6-8pm The Bomb Factory, 99 Kingsway, London WC2B 6QX   RSVP Ringing in the season of cracker crowns, colourful balloons and party favours, the sculptures in Doireann Gillan's solo exhibition resemble both symbols of joy and excitement as harbingers of loneliness and nostalgia. Squeezed, stretched and bent out of shape, discarded industrial materials and soft spheres defy their prescribed functions as negative space and shadows compete with the objects they depend on. Oscillating between rage, restraint and revelry their behaviour and appearance challenge historically gendered attributes. Gillan's installations act as metaphors for the tension between a desire for happiness and the collapse of the social structures necessary to meet this - for the unachievable aspirations in an era of heightened political and economic precarity. The Party's Over is a playful provocation to take risks and bring about change. “No choice but stand. Somehow up and stand. Somehow stand. That or groan. The groan so long on its way. No. No groan. Simply pain. Simply up." Samuel Beckett, Worstward Ho, 1963

Doireann Gillan is an Irish multidisciplinary artist whose practice spans sculpture, video, painting and performance. Her thesis Gag. Clench. Wail gained a distinction at the Royal College of Art in London and her work has been widely exhibited. She was longlisted for the Aesthetica Art Prize 2024 and was the recipient of the Women’s Irish Network bursary in 2021. Gillan's practice follows the Irish tradition of blending beauty and humour with themes of struggle and loss.