Overview
126 Artist-Run Gallery & Studios is delighted to present After the History by Ursula Burke.
Ursula Burke’s work explores abuses of power in many realms of the social and political in the West. Whilst her work is born out of a context of contested spaces, identities and borders within Ireland her work also looks outwards towards multiple international paradigms, posing questions in relation to the success or failure of the political enterprise in contemporary terms. Formally, her work appropriates tropes deeply invested in the Classical, and re-inserts them in the contemporary. She is also inspired by historic tropes of representation and display in Medieval and Renaissance wall tapestries such as the Cluny Tapestries of the Lady and the Unicorn, which were in themselves expressions of power relations and societal hierarchies.
For this exhibition she explores these themes and has created a new sculptural work using the age old and prized method of fine art tapestry, a new skill which she practiced during Covid restrictions. Woven throughout the exhibition textile sculpture and porcelain/soft sculpture can be found including a sculpture dedicated to the French Mannerist Sphinx called Blue Sphinx.
