Nuala O’Sullivan	16 July to 6 Aug 2009
All Fall Down

        

Left: Nuala O'Sullivan, All Fall Down, Giclée on Waxed Paper   Right: Nuala O'Sullivan, Paper Dolls, Giclée on Dibond

Limerick Printmakers Studio and Gallery are delighted to announce ‘All Fall Down’ an exhibition of new work by Limerick artist Nuala O’Sullivan.  

The exhibition will be officially opened at 8pm on Thursday 16^th July and all are welcome.  

Nuala’s work explores themes relating to identity and self-image through painting and photography. In this exhibition she uses the Financial Times Newspaper and its supplement, the ‘How to Spend It’ magazine, as source material. Through painting, print and installation, the work examines mass media influence on our self-image, and also considers the background and unseen financial forces that often manipulate both how we see ourselves and how we spend our money.  It raises the question: has the recent economic crisis set many people adrift searching for a new self-image because they can no longer afford to express themselves through expensive designer labels? 

To portray this dilemma, Nuala has made a series of photographs using paper dolls cut from the ‘How to Spend It’ Supplement. The dolls form a human chain, and although dolls are childhood images, here they address more complicated adult issues. Some of the photographs show the dolls against a black background looking stylised and highly finished like the magazines from which they were created.  However, the paper dolls continually topple over, and all the designer names they feature fall and collapse along with them.    

As an important counterpoint to the collection of photographs, the larger paintings in this show feature nameless and faceless businessmen who are in the background of our lives in publications, and in the financial world, exerting unseen influence on all our lives.  

Nuala holds a BA Degree in Fine Art Painting from the Limerick School of Art and Design (L.I.T.) and received a Revenue Commissioners Award for Excellence on her BA. She is also an active full time member of Limerick’s Contact Studios since October 2006 and Committee Member from 2007 to date. 

Fresh from a solo show ‘Other Peoples Lives’ in Kilkenny’s Watergate Theatre Nuala’s recent exhibitions include ‘Picture Show’, at Dooradoyle Library, Limerick; the Spring Exhibition Greenacres Gallery, Wexford; Eigse, Carlow; Summer Show at Mary Street Gallery, Waterford; ‘Inside Contact 09 ’ and ‘Christmas Contact’ at Think Creative; Royal Ulster Academy of Arts Annual Show 08, Belfast; Hallward Gallery 07, Dublin, Summer & Winter Show 07 and Íontas, 17^th National Small Works Art Exhibition, Sligo. Nuala has also been shortlisted for the Dunamaise Open in Portlaoise.  

The exhibition will run until 6^th August 2009. For further information on this exhibition, please contact Limerick Printmakers Studio and Gallery at the details below. The gallery is open Monday to Friday 11am to 5.30pm and Saturday 10am to 4pm.  

All are welcome. Admission is free.