Context

"This abstract work was compelling, communicative and utterly available to the crowd. With something of ‘Quatermass and the Pit’ and ‘The Blob’ about it, ‘In Dublin’ ultimately demonstrated an immersion on O’Connell’s part in the ideology of entropy. Remembering that the closure of Rooney’s pub was a precursor to the commercial reinvention of an inner city area,‘In Dublin’s’ conceptual development has echoes in Smithson’s astute appraisal of the return of “dead zones to commercial circulation’’. If there is still a propensity among connoisseurs of art to disappear down rabbit holes in search of artists’ interior lives and ‘real’ intentions, this is an option that O’Connell’s work rightly resists. O’Connell’s work properly constitutes itself in a cultural framework and engages us all the more therefore."

Whilst writing about the work shown at Jerwood Platform, this short passage written by curator Val O'Connor, succinctly and poetically picks and articulates some of my concerns. A full copy of the text is available as a PDF here.

Project Elements

The staircase was constructed using plywood before a deep pile white carpet was fitted. The cube of bitumen which was approximately 30 inches square, was cast by Irish Bitumen and released from its mould on the opening night. Guardian review