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thoughts involving ethics and legitimacy (or lack
thereof) in the life of an artist, offering up a humorous observation deck for viewers to perch on. Mehigan is no less multi-faceted than the above, with her semi-surrealist concoctions melding sentient and inanimate materials – lava, emeralds, human tissue… The thread of commonality that unites them all is “really good ideas embodied in some type of making process. Everyone is physically making something. For example, you have Marcel’s very elaborate, almost operatic installations… and he’s making objects, and paintings. Whether the chosen artists are painters or sculptors, you get this sense that [above all] they’re object-makers.” It’s interesting to note the shifts that have occurred in our digital landscape since Futures was first launched. With a recent work by Mehigan themed around “trauma and its effect/affect on social media”, this is truly a modern-minded concern; one which simply would not have existed at the dawn of the 2000s. Has Murphy seen a shift in young artists’ principles, for better or worse, since the advent and rapid ascent of social media? “I think that artists can be contrarians: they can be contrary to the way things are going. Someone like Bassam is using CGI to a very sophisticated level, but he’s also making objects; it’s this idea that you can be immersed into a virtual, manufactured life and at the same time, have the necessity to put the real object into the world. It isn’t an ‘either or’ proposition; it’s an ‘and also’. You can be very digital and very object-based at the same time.” Whether it’s down to a positive harnessing of social media, or simply inner personalities at work, these artists are itching to bring new layers of accessibility to their creative output, and the space in which they operate. “They really want to communicate with a broader public. They don’t want to just speak to people in the art world – they want to speak to people, in the broadest sense.” Given the considerable attendance cultivated by the RHA, the artists’ platform to do so – the very breathable It’s always about truffling out these people Main Galleries – couldn’t be better placed, nor a more refreshing contrast to the showcases that sandwich in, rather than space out, their multiple participants. “A lot of group shows can have too many people and too little work, and [the latter] is all jammed together – here, they’re not crowded, they can show a good body of work. Futures is always shown in our main galleries, because it’s an important commitment that we have to helping emerging artists and bringing them to the public’s attention.” As for where these artists will next ascend to? The RHA are earnest in their supporting of emerging talent, coupling this initiative with individual shows and a studio programme – but like any other creative hub, they’re not in the business of telling fortunes. The alumni of Futures Episode 1, Series 1 ultimately split across several routes – some attaining prominence in both domestic and international art spheres, others vanishing into the ether. The latter has likely nothing to do with artistic meritocracy, but rather life taking them on very different trails. “Inevitably, an artist’s trajectory in Ireland is driven by themselves and their own determination. In other countries, there’s a more sophisticated gallery system that can drive [artists’] careers – but here it’s pretty much in their own hands. All we can do is bring them to a broader public… how they capitalise on that is really up to their own drive and initiative.” Clockwise from opposite: Cecilia Danell, Inside a Shadow, 2018, Oil and acrylics on canvas, 188x137cm, Image courtesy of the artist; Laura Fitzgerald, Brian Rock, 2018, Video research still from video Portrait of a Stone, Image courtesy of the artist; Joanne Reid, 2018, Photograph, Image courtesy of the artist. Futures is running in the RHA Gallery, Ely Place until December 19 71