Shame

Artist Patrick O'Reilly (b. 1957)

Date1996

MediumMixed-media installation

DimensionsVariable: approx 180 x 280 x 300 cm

ClassificationsMixed Media

Credit LineCollection & image © Hugh Lane Gallery. Donated by DHL, 1997. © Patrick O'Reilly.

Object number1907

DescriptionWhile Patrick O'Reilly briefly studied in Belfast College of Art from 1975-76 he is in essence a self-taught artist. His work is characterised by beautifully crafted, visually imaginative and sometimes humorous sculptural pieces. He has wittily adapted familiar objects in order to comment, often sympathetically, on the banality of existence or the insidious collusion of society in acts of cruelty.

Shame is a mixed media installation that articulates man's cruelty through the ritual of the bullfight. Here, an elegant picador has let his mask drop to reveal a stuffed bull's head. A blood-splattered toy-like bull lies on the ground. In the background four screens simultaneously replay the crowd's applause at the moment of a bull's death. A plaintive tune plays continuously. O'Reilly draws inspiration from a number of nineteenth-century writers, including the moralizing English poet Martin Tupper, whose work 'Proverbial Philosophy' enjoyed publishing success. In the late 1990s O'Reilly began to work in bronze and was based in Central France. Often humorous, these works are pervaded by an air of surrealism that imbues the animal figures with human characteristics. Based in Dublin, he as been commissioned to make several outdoor sculptures including Big Bird for temporary exhibition on O'Connell Street and Queen Maeve which stands on Burlington Road. He exhibits frequently in London, Paris and Amsterdam.

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