THE MACHISMO PROJECT
Panel discussion & Documentary screening
Thursday 29th August | 6.30pm
126 is pleased to present the second in the series of panel discussions for THE MACHISMO PROJECT.
There is a deficit of work in current contemporary art practice which confronts masculinity directly as its subject matter. The MACHISMO PROJECT was conceived as a means by which this neglected area of research could be examined and explored. Through an exhibition and panel discussions, a dialogue will be opened up where the complex pressures of traditional gender constructs can be unpacked and discussed. This project does not hope to provide answers to the issues it raises but rather to begin to subvert and question the roughly hewn narratives of machismo and its intersection with society.
For this panel discussion, artists Conall Cary and Gary Dempsey will be joined by David Patterson, mens community worker based in Gort, Co. Galway along with a representative from the Galway Branch of The Mens Sheds Association. The aim of the discussion will be to constructively develop the conversation about machismo within a social context, providing the framework with which to view the current MACHISMO EXHIBITION.
Prior to the discussion, there will be screening of the MACHISMO documentary by Flying Knee Productions for The MACHISMO PROJECT, which discusses issues concerning contemporary masculinity.
This is a free event and all are welcome
Further info:
Within the MACHISMO EXHIBITION, curated by Gerald Heffernan (Tactic @ Sample-Studios), the topic of male identity is explored through the work of artists Conall Cary and Gary Dempsey in their use of printed imagery and innovative construction methods. The work consists of large scale prints on cast concrete and cut steel, utilising the inherent masculinity of the materials size, strength and toughness juxtaposed against the surface imagery.
Gary Dempsey is a visual artist and printmaker currently working as a member of Backwater Artists Group and Cork Printmakers. He graduated from the Limerick School of Art & Design with a degree in Fine Art Printmaking and has been involved as a member of the Francisian Church and Limerick Printmakers, showing work in a variety of group exhibitions both nationally and internationally. In 2011 he was awarded the Bursary Award from Cork Printmakers and he continues to work and teach there. Dempsey's work draws on his experiences of relationships and human interactions and imposed sexual expectations placed on men today. In his work men and women are replaced by curious, animal like creatures that are used to explore the ways in which men are encouraged to reduce themselves to a series of primal urges.
Conall Cary is a visual artist and printmaker currrently working as a member of Backwater Artists Group and Cork Printmakers. After his studies at the University of Oregon, he went on to study Printmaking at GMIT and graduated with a first class honours degree in 2010. As artist-in-residence at the Highland Print Studio in Inverness, Scotland he worked with mental health patients facilitating workshops using printmaking methods. With recent residencies at the Sirius Art Centre, Cork Printmakers and Ratamo Centre for Printmaking & Photography in Finland, Cary has continued a direction of work that is concerned with the modern male identity, in particular the issues facing men living in rural isolated environments.
Gerald Heffernan graduated from the Crawford College of Art & Design in 2010 with a bachelors degree in Fine Art. Having previously founded and programmed the Patrick St. Gallery in Cork from 2006-2009 he became involved with the creation of Sample-Studios in Cork City. He currently acts as Director and Chairperson while also being the co-curator and programmer for TACTIC project space in Sample-Studios. Heffernan has curated several exhibitions both in TACTIC and elsewhere, most notable being NLAIII at IMOCA in Dublin in 2012. He is currently involved in on-going curatorial projects such as The Machismo Project.
http://www.machismo.ie/M-A-C-H-I-S-M-O
http://www.conallcary.com/
http://www.rockthefuckoutjr.com/
www.facebook.com/TACTICart
www.126gallery.blogspot.ie