Inanimate Beauty
In this debut solo exhibition of photographs by the multi-discipline artist, Emer Roberts, the fundamental narrative is beauty; via strange depictions of the animal and lands somewhere between the ambiguous and oppressive. Surprise is an element the artist rest heavily on; through her distinct visual style, the images directly link with Roberts’s sculptural practice. She incites an uncertainty in the viewer, often arousing both attraction and repulsion.
Roberts’s somewhat morbid fascination with dead animals has developed into a metaphoric tool to suggest the duality of nature and culture; the human and non-human, the real and artificial and the power of the institution. The theme of death also runs with the notion of loss and sadness, yet searches instead for its beauty through stillness.
Emer Roberts completed MFA Sculpture in NCAD in 2009 after BA Fine Art Sculpture from the DIT School of Art and Design in 2006 and receiving NCVA in Design and Printmaking from Ballyfermot Senior College in 1998 and an NCVA in Craft and Design from St. Johns Central College in Cork City in 1997. Some of the artist’s most recent exhibitions include ‘Blasphemous’ at IMOCA Dublin curated by K. Bear Koss in 2010; ‘StarGaze’ at D-Light Studios Arts Festival Dublin curated by Aine Macken in 2009; Rua Red Gallery in Dublin curated by Hugh McCarthy in 2009; ‘Unfurl’ at Temple Bar Gallery & Studios Dublin curated by Gavin Murphy in 2009 and XYZ at Filmbase in Temple Bar Dublin in 2006. Recent press coverage include article in Irish Times and image used in Time Magazine review of ‘Blasphemous’ exhibition in IMOCA; Art Life article by Caroline Allen in 2006 and The stuff of nightmares, an art review by Roz Britton in Metro in 2006.
Antoinette Sinclair (B.A. 1999, M.A. 2000, D.Phil 2005) has been in her present role of Managing Director of Stone Gallery since November 2009. Since her appointment, she has launched an on and off-site exhibition programme featuring group and solo-exhibition by Irish and international multi-discipline artists, including ‘Lines, Layers & Light’, a solo-exhibition of new drawing by Gerda Teljeur inspired by the recent touring exhibition ‘Into Irish Drawing’, curated by Arno Kramer. Prior to this, Antoinette worked at Oisin Gallery for over 9 years as senior curator. Most notably exhibitions include ‘Underlying Current’, a solo exhibition by the multi-award winning London painter, Sarah Harvey; ‘Modern Figure’, in which eight international artists, including Maya Kulenovic and Chris Stevens, were asked to reference and explore the treatment of the figure as subject in contemporary painting; and bringing UK’s Willard Wigan’s micro-sculptures, valued at £11.2 million, for their first formal exhibition in Ireland. Her early career involved working in London, Belfast, Colorado and San Francisco with The Irish Pub Design & Development Company.
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