Kerlin
8 June – 3 July 1990
Kerlin Gallery, Dublin
Lockers, 1990, Wooden lockers, 30 species of shark cut from black-iron steel and plywood
Lockers photographed in the then artist's studio, Pigeon House Power Station, Dublin, Ireland
Passion Bed, 1990, Wire and sandblasted wine glasses
Passion Bed (detail), 1990
Moon Shark, Photograph and sandblasted glass
Moon Bomb, 1990, Bronze, Second World War bomb case, bullets
Locker Beds – A set of old wooden lockers, found in the powerhouse studio, stood with doors open, with bed-like structures emerging. They appeared like sluices where thirty cut-out forms of rusted-steel sharks fell from tangled wires across the floor of the gallery. The species depicted were considered the most dangerous to humans at the time.
Several other works in the show referred to the sea. A bronze skate with fragile nipples hung above a buoy, reversing buoyancy. A diptych of photographs of an empty swimming pool with the same shark forms sand-blasted on the inside of the glass – echoing the lost water. Passion Bed – a tall, twisted, wire structure with amber glasses entangled in the mattress. Each glass was sand-blasted with the same shark forms some of which were blasted through and some faintly visible.
List of works (click to expand)
Passion Bed, 1990, Wire and sandblasted wine glasses, 157 x 170 x 54 cm
Lockers, 1990, Wooden lockers, 30 species of shark cut from black-iron steel and plywood, 182 x 228 cm x Variable length
Lockers Photographed in the artist's studio, Pigeon House Power Station, Dublin, Ireland
Skate, 1990, Bronze, wire, buoy, Variable dimensions
Mirror, 1990, Mirror, wire, steel and rubber washers, 70 cm x 70 cm, metal elements variable
Lighthouse, 1990, Photograph and wire, 60 x 100 x 25 cm
Kitchen Table, 1990, Wooden table, enamel bowl, steel, test-tube and fossillised sharks teeth, 90 x 162 x 60 cm
Moon Bomb, 1990, Bronze, Second World War bomb case, bullets, 25 x 16 cm
Shallow End, 1990, Photograph and sandblasted glass, 45 x 65 cm
Deep End, 1990, Photograph and sandblasted glass, 45 x 65 cm
Moon Cage, Photograph and wire
Moon Shark, Photograph and sandblasted glass