Drawing by: Mirka's art blog

Scotch art experiments

2011-02-07T03:11:00.004+01:00

Postcards for a mail art exhibition taking place 3rd-31st March 2011
http://womensecretsconfidences.blogspot.com/p/next-exhibitions-2011.html

Perhaps you are coming back by the next one...

2011-01-07T12:41:00.008+01:00

This is a (made up) story of a lonely person waiting for someone who left (him ...or her). Desperate looking out of the windows, still hoping, counting every minute of a day, every passing train...
The photos are not collages. All has been staged in an appartment with a lovely direct view of trains passing by just behind the window. The only adjustments made are the blurs and some colour tweaking.

PromisesYouBroke.com website

2010-12-05T14:47:00.003+01:00

...btw the website has been up and running for few months already: http://www.promisesyoubroke.com

stop by ...and leave your broken promise! ;)

NCAD exhibition July 2010

2010-07-07T18:39:00.014+02:00

My studies at NCAD are over!! Time to celebrate, enjoy some rest, and produce a lot of new work!!

I presented my final diploma project at this year's college exhibition:

Boxes

Over the year my project bcame a multi-perspective exploration of “boxes” and their place in our lives: We live/work/spend our free time in box-like places (sometimes beautiful and deceiving, sometimes unpleasant indoor environments with no daylight or fresh air e.g.offices, pubs, gyms, hospitals, prisons, schools...). We may also feel restricted by whatever immaterial box we fall into (any statistics, social rank, gender, origin, religion, any status – marital, occupational position and level in corporate/social ladder...). Occasionally we perhaps feel contained in a particular chapter of our life (I imagine this kind of situation as being stuck in an invisible box), we can suffer from being “boxed in” with particular people or certain thoughts in our heads...

In my work I focused on those boxes which cause feelings of anxiety, claustrophobia and suck us in so strongly that they are able to blur our minds, make us forget about our true selves, even dismiss our real lives, lose overview of our own and real aims, goals, needs and will.

I am trying to remind the viewer that s/he is voluntarily or involuntarily, physically or mentally/emotionally put in a box or few. I placed most of my paintings and small sculptures into cardboard or canvas boxes to produce the psychological effect of containment, of "being boxed in" or "being sucked in by a 'box'" - whether a physical place or any intangible structure, grouping, strategy, politics, or cathegory...

In order not to succumb to pessimism and passivity I wanted to perform some actions against (at least few of) “The Boxes” (such as: shopping centres, shopping street, airport, office). Documentation of these performances in form of few videos were screened on a computer placed ...inside a cardboard box :)

As a final note I would put down few observations of some of the chatty ones who visited my corner:

- Even though we may feel restricted by "the boxes" it is us, people, who produce them.
- The "bad boxes" can be actually very good - can help us organise our lives, give us certain security.
- It is important to realise and review what boxes I currently fall into and decide which ones I want to get out of.
- It is impossible to "live totally outside the box" - you allways fall into some :)

Slightly claustrophobic

2010-03-07T18:38:00.006+01:00

...topic for this year...

canvass, Fimo, led light

here and there

2010-02-16T11:09:00.003+01:00

Marker on paper and tracing paper

Past Present Reality Bananas

2010-02-11T23:14:00.004+01:00

Collage and crayons (and bananas :) ) on paper, 2009

It fascinates me how all of our past is still contained somewhere within us. Physically too, of course, but it is amazing how we can be here and there (in the past) in the very same moment - mentally and emotionally. All those memories, experiences, feelings, people, places, colours, fragrances... Anything that I somewhere suddelnly see, hear, smell, sense, can be a trigger which shoots me (my mind?) to any moment from my personal history.

Drawing Day

2009-06-20T17:55:00.006+02:00

There is a National Drawing day taking place in galleries and museums all arount Ireland in May. Anybody is welcome to come and draw. I participated in the one in National Gallery of Ireland.

2009

Still life

Live model

2008

Promises You Broke

2009-06-07T18:00:00.000+02:00

As promised - couple of visuals for all ad respondents:

Bin full of your broken promises
It is a special bin, made of plastic air-pillow wrap. Empty air-pillows, big bubbles...

Fractal of Broken Promises

THANK YOU ALL!!

and of course, any of your freshly broken promises are very welcome in my new mailbox:

mirka@promisesyoubroke.com

A rainy day in Grand Canal Square

2009-06-06T23:12:00.000+02:00

Catherine the Bus Driver

2009-05-30T17:54:00.000+02:00

Charcoal and chalk on black paper

National Gallery of Ireland

2009-05-30T01:27:00.000+02:00

Some of my favourites from NGI

pastels, oil pastels, charcoal on paper

My favourite sleeper

2009-05-25T23:06:00.000+02:00

Siesta time!

Drawing people who do not know. Sleepers. Drawing with mildly adrenalin flavour. What if they wake up and discover? I know, it is a bit cheeky, taking a quick "snapshot" of someone's unconscious face, but how to resist the thrill!? (well, sleepers are mostly friends and family, so no real danger, but still...) The time pressure. Tossing and turning, changing the "pose" instantly, waking up any minute ...to discover ...what I have done!
Sometimes they do not discover :)
But then i can not keep the secret.
Disappointing is to learn that someone realised what was going on and started to pretend the sleep.
Fair play to those, who wake up and scare me :)

Shh!

2009-05-24T19:52:00.000+02:00

I love to draw when nobody is watching...