Niamh O’Malley

About

Through sculpture and moving-image installations, Niamh O’Malley situates her objects carefully, accounting for the room and the context with the same care and attention as she selects her distinct repertoire of materials. The artist takes notice of our distance from the world, complicating the potential function of each elusively familiar object she makes. The artist’s sculptural works consist of recognisable materials such as wood and stone that partly adheres to their conventional use within furniture and architecture but, in each case, highlights their new absoluteness.

Niamh O’Malley was born in County Mayo in Ireland. In 2022, Niamh O’Malley represented Ireland at the 59th Venice Biennale in the solo exhibition, ‘Gather’. After its success in Venice, her work travelled across three institutional locations in Ireland in the spring of 2023: Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Dublin (2023); The Model, Sligo (2023); Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast (2023).

Recent solo exhibitions include Niamh O’Malley: Lightbox, Grimm Gallery, New York (2024); Niamh O’Malley, Vardaxoglou Gallery, London (2023); Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, IE (2019); John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK (2021); Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, IE (2019); Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, AT (2018); Bluecoat Liverpool, UK (2015); Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, IE (2017). O’Malley’s work is included in numerous private and public collections such as the The Hugh Lane, Dublin City Gallery; Irish Museum of Modern Art; the Arts Council of Ireland, Office of Public Works, Ireland; Stefan Stolitzka Collection, Graz; FRAC Méca-Nouvelle Aquitaine, France and Galleria Arte Moderna, Turin. 

Selected Works

  • Installation view, Niamh O'Malley: Gather, Irish Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale, 2022

  • Installation view, Niamh O'Malley, Vardaxoglou Gallery, 2023

  • Niamh O'Malley
    Shelf (held), 2022
    beech, textured glass, coloured glass, steel
    130 x 75.05 x 10 cm
    51 1/8 x 29 1/2 x 4 ins

  • Installation view, Niamh O'Malley: Gather, Irish Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale, 2022

  • Installation view, Niamh O'Malley: Gather, Irish Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale, 2022

  • Niamh O'Malley
    Untitled Panel Drawing, 2015-24
    pencil, graphite and filler on panel
    30.5 x 24.5 x 2.5 cm
    12 x 9 5/8 x 1 ins

  • Niamh O'Malley
    Drain, 2022
    limestone
    30.4 x 155 x 120 cm
    12 x 61 x 47 1/4 ins

  • Niamh O'Malley
    Two panels, rest, 2017
    graphite and filler on panels, beech
    169.5 x 71 x 22.4 cm
    67 3/8 x 28 1/2 x 9 1/4 ins

  • Niamh O'Malley
    Blind, 2023
    maple, birch, glass, coloured glass, oil paint, steel
    219 x 119 x 53 cm
    86 1/4 x 46 7/8 x 20 7/8 ins

  • Installation view, Niamh O’Malley: Handle, RHA Gallery, Dublin, 2019

  • Niamh O'Malley
    Leafs, 2022
    steel
    84 x 18 x 1.8 cm
    33 1/8 x 7 1/8 x 3/4 ins

  • Niamh O'Malley
    Foiled Glass (doubled), 2022
    foiled glass
    92 x 25.8 x 0.8 cm
    36 1/4 x 10 1/8 x 1/4 ins

  • Installation view, Niamh O'Malley, Vardaxoglou Gallery, 2023

  • Installation view, Niamh O'Malley, Lismore Castle Arts, 2019


Vardaxoglou Exhibitions


Selected Institutional Exhibitions




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