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
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Installation view, Niamh O'Malley: Gather, Irish Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale, 2022
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Installation view, Niamh O'Malley, Vardaxoglou Gallery, 2023
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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
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Installation view, Niamh O'Malley: Gather, Irish Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale, 2022
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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
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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
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Installation view, Niamh O'Malley, Lismore Castle Arts, 2019
Vardaxoglou Exhibitions
Selected Institutional Exhibitions