Seán Kissane sees an artistic tradition in the work of Sibyl Montague that continues on from the French artist Louise Bourgeois
Sibyl Montague (b. 1979, Cork) is a multidisciplinary artist working out of Temple Bar Studios, Dublin. Her practice encompasses sculpture, video, drawing and assemblage. Her installation SELF SOOTHERS (Snakes) is currently on show at IMMA as part of the 30-year anniversary exhibition, ‘The Narrow Gate of the Here and Now, Chapter 4: Social Fabric’. The theme underlying this work is fast fashion – that is, mass-produced and low-cost replicas of recent catwalk trends, made in Asia and sold by multinational retailers. The theme is expressed through the artist’s process, which is to gather clothes from this industry and remake them. The drives behind this include exploitative working practices which affect vulnerable women; the massive impact on the environment; and the artist’s own need to understand the paradox of making artifacts that comment on the economics of globalisation, while inserting yet more objects into globalised economies.
John P O’Sullivan investigates painterly values and pitfalls with Donald Teskey, ahead of his mid-career survey at the RHA
