Marianne O’Kane-Boal selects Still Life by Mary Ruth Walsh from Wexford County Council’s art collection
In curating a diverse art collection belonging to Wexford County Council, there is an inherent challenge in placing traditional and contemporary art in a thoroughly modern setting. The building, designed by Robin Lee, is the quintessential tabula rasa, where spaces and materials are pared down to their fundamental elements. The palette is limited, the setting neutral and there is an attendant purity. Such an arena, clearly contributes to an interesting dialogue with the artworks. The dialectic generated by the relationship of the building with one series is particularly worthy of discussion. Still Life is a series of nine DVD film stills by Mary Ruth Walsh and this series is contextually relevant to the point of appearing site-specific in the building. Dublin-born artist Walsh is a graduate of NCAD and Goldsmiths College. Her work integrates ready-mades and discarded materials into revised configurations that she combines with video and photography.
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