Niamh O’Malley at Douglas Hyde Gallery – review

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The modulation between clarity and obscurity is a defining feature of Niamh O’Malley’s work. Representations that at once appear crystalline are soon undermined and contradicted. Confounding ambiguities and disturbances are recurring, forcing pause and contemplation — time seems to slow around O’Malley’s work. This makes sense given much of the Mayo born artist’s work is concerned with the construction of time. Meticulous investigation is essential in unravelling her ideas. The explicit cannot be wholly relied upon, face value is not enough.

Nephin is a landscape piece, and a transportive and engaging treatment of a genre which often appears staid to contemporary eyes. In a looped video, the camera circumnavigates an imposing mountain near the artist’s home. Although constantly aware of its presence, high hedgerows, tall trees and overhead power lines all interfere with the view. A permanent blot on the lens agitates one’s focus. Traveling along winding boreens, the camera shudders and jolts, upsetting both composition and concentration. In Glasshouse, jagged remnants of brick and glass impede a clear vista, the work itself is fragmented across two screens.

Complexity is also found in O’Malley’s object-based work. Glass sheets are laid on the ground in Double Glass Floor, their transparency subverted, marred by rough daubs of black paint. In Untitled, a triptych of frames holds contents that look like slides viewed under a microscope. Exceptionally, Standing Stone seems literal to the extent of incongruity when viewed alongside other pieces.

O’Malley’s work is the outcome of the visible grappling with the invisible, each piece seemingly emerging as a product of this antithesis. A new way of looking is found amongst the difference between the seen and the unseen. Concluding with an admittedly abysmal cliché, all is not as it seems in O’Malley’s work. Time and effort spent carefully looking at this demanding show can lead to revelation. And that is time well spent.

Niamh O’Malley’s exhibition runs until February 25 at the Douglas Hyde Gallery, Nassau Street. Photo courtesy of the artist.

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