Self Actualiser
Culchie boy, I love you / Grá mo chroí thú, mo chábóigín féin
Fabric, woven rushes, beads, corn flour, wire, vegetable oil, glue, bells, paint, glitter, varnish, nail polish knitted wool, hand woven fabric, thread, string, silicone, ceramic, crochet wool, jesmonite, bells, HP laptop, digital print, reflective material from Sara, iphone, hessian, spray paint, plaster, synthetic hair from Alice, baked soda bread from Geraldine, scarves from Geraldine, AKG headphones, gold leaf, silver leaf, carved wood, nanny’s mixing bowl, 10mg Citalopran Teva, dried hydrangeas, clay
2024
2024
Originally commissioned by Project in 2023 ‘Culchie boy, I love you / Grá mo chroí thú, mo chábóigín féin’ which runs from July 13th to August 31st in the Regional Cultural Centre, Letterkenny
This iteration, Self-Actualiser, is accompanied by a newly commissioned text by Emily Cooper with design by Alex Synge.
With huge thanks to Jeremy Fitz Howard, Rachel Botha and Cathal McGinley.
Also thanks to The Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin City Council, Fire Station Artists’ Studios and Earagail Arts Festival.
This iteration, Self-Actualiser, is accompanied by a newly commissioned text by Emily Cooper with design by Alex Synge.
With huge thanks to Jeremy Fitz Howard, Rachel Botha and Cathal McGinley.
Also thanks to The Arts Council of Ireland, Dublin City Council, Fire Station Artists’ Studios and Earagail Arts Festival.
Untitled
Fabric, woven rushes, beads, corn flour, wire, vegetable oil, glue, bells, paint, glitter, varnish, knitted wool, hand woven fabric, thread, string, jesmonite, silicone
2024
2024
Draft sculpture for installation ‘Self actualiser’ 2024
Cailleach boy i & Cailleach boy ii
Fabric, clay, nannys headscarves, steel, wire, plastic wrap, bells, insect repellent netting, carved wood, false eyelashes, sticks, crochet wool, woven fabric, thread, sticks
Images courtesy of EVA International
2023
Images courtesy of EVA International
2023
Sculptural works that referenced Irish mythological figures, religious iconography and rural queer experience, which were situated within the congregational spaces of St. Mary’s Cathedral.
The Gleaners Society
Curated by Sebastian Cichocki, the Guest Programme of the 40th EVA International took its thematic basis on the idea and practice of gleaning – a term that traditionally refers to the act of collecting leftover crops following a harvest. The Gleaners Society extended this reference in a multiple of ways, alternately serving as an artistic subject, a political metaphor, and a curatorial methodology to explore and propose art’s relationship to society. Featuring over 45 presentations by Irish and international artists and collectives, The Gleaners Society unfolded across a set of uniquely diverse venues in Limerick city (civic arts institutions, a primary school, a Cathedral, and a vegetarian cafe, among others).
The Gleaners Society
Curated by Sebastian Cichocki, the Guest Programme of the 40th EVA International took its thematic basis on the idea and practice of gleaning – a term that traditionally refers to the act of collecting leftover crops following a harvest. The Gleaners Society extended this reference in a multiple of ways, alternately serving as an artistic subject, a political metaphor, and a curatorial methodology to explore and propose art’s relationship to society. Featuring over 45 presentations by Irish and international artists and collectives, The Gleaners Society unfolded across a set of uniquely diverse venues in Limerick city (civic arts institutions, a primary school, a Cathedral, and a vegetarian cafe, among others).
‘Bug Choir’
Digital collage, digital print, billboard
2023
2023
On your way in, make sure to check out Kian's newly installed billboard, 'Bug choir'. 'Bug choir' is a fractured self-portrait of Kian, playing terracotta whistles on top of Union Rock - a walking trail near the artist's home overlooking Sligo and Sligo Bay. The artist plays a song for all of Sligo to hear, inspired by the statue in Rosses Point called 'Waiting on the Shore', which was made as a tribute to the men at sea and shipwrecked. Kian's romantic song is a queer fairy song of similar epic drama.
Culchie boy, I love you / Grá mo chroí thú, mo chábóigín féin is a new commission from Kian Benson Bailes comprising sculpture, digital & material collage, musical instruments, ceramics, textiles, woodwork, and live sculptural sound elements. Culchie boy, I love you / Grá mo chroí thú, mo chábóigín féin references Irish folklore, mythology, and craft traditions in an exuberant expression of rural queer experience.
Culchie boy, I love you / Grá mo chroí thú, mo chábóigín féin is a new commission from Kian Benson Bailes comprising sculpture, digital & material collage, musical instruments, ceramics, textiles, woodwork, and live sculptural sound elements. Culchie boy, I love you / Grá mo chroí thú, mo chábóigín féin references Irish folklore, mythology, and craft traditions in an exuberant expression of rural queer experience.
Untitled
Clay, paper pulp, wire, beads, crochet wool, diamantes, dired hydrangeas, knitted wool, ribbon, fabric, paint, plaster, thread,
2023
Images courtesy of Brian Kinsella
2023
Images courtesy of Brian Kinsella
The 20 artists who are exhibiting work at Periphery Space this August range across different media. They represent a richness in the arts in Ireland that most of the time goes unnoticed. We are very excited about what they have achieved to formulate as individuals and as a community of artists in this very experimental process of developing work for the resulting exhibition Matters of Table.
peripheriesPOST has become an experimental and communitarian project that brings together artists who feel lost in the POST of art school, or isolated artists who just want to connect with other artists. We see this new project — POST all the things that have happened in the last few years — as an opportunity to facilitate a space where artists can come together and feel supported in what they are questioning and developing in their work.
peripheriesPOST has become an experimental and communitarian project that brings together artists who feel lost in the POST of art school, or isolated artists who just want to connect with other artists. We see this new project — POST all the things that have happened in the last few years — as an opportunity to facilitate a space where artists can come together and feel supported in what they are questioning and developing in their work.
