Rachel Thomas interviews Richard Malone, an artist who works across the media of sculpture, fashion and performance, pushing the boundaries of traditional sculpture.
Rachel Thomas: Richard, how did growing up in the rural landscape of Wexford in the 1990s influence you?
Richard Malone: I’m from a working-class family of labourers and makers, and I moved from Wexford town to Ardcavan when I was about six. I was the second in my family to get the Leaving Cert and go on to third level. I never had access to art growing up, but I had endless access to imagination – mainly as a response to boredom. I was fascinated by people, drawing 24/7. I always had this compulsion to make and to create with anything I got my hands on: trying on my mam’s clothes, draping fabric around me, building, playing with Polyfilla, drawing. I made rosettes and knotted bracelets with my grandmother to celebrate the horse shows or the GAA.
Engaging with your independent artistic voice is the single best education you can have – no MA or PhD comes close to experience and play. Freedom in itself is a real education. Ireland has this formal approach to education, defining who gets to show. It’s become a prerequisite when not everyone can access it, and that’s a problem.
I became very aware of the performance of gender early on. I worked with my dad on building sites, and when I was younger I learned sewing and painting with my grandmother at home. The distinction between those spaces in terms of materiality always stayed with me – from steel, wood and concrete to linen, cotton thread and sewing, or to language, or gesture, or silences.
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