A Life of Their Own

In 2008, Lismore Castle Arts presented A Life of Their Own, curated by Richard Cork, which opened on 26 April and continued until 30 September 2008. This exciting show of young artists’ work transformed the gallery at Lismore Castle. It brought together nine exceptional individuals who contributed to the vitality of emergent sculpture in the 21st Century. Curated by award-winning critic and historian Richard Cork, the exhibition was called ‘A Life of Their Own’ – a title which reflects new art’s ability at the time to catch viewers off-balance, challenging us with powerful and unpredictable experiences. Lismore Castle offers versatile spaces where dramatically different kinds of art can coexist. Far from belonging to a unified new movement, each of the selected artists thrived on a distinct approach. And their work proved that an immense, highly stimulating range of possibilities is now open to sculptors.

Roger Hiorns works inventively with resources as diverse as steel, thistles, ceramic, BMW engines, wood, photography, disinfectant, foam and urine. Eva Rothschild is equally unpredictable, forever experimenting with unconventional materials as she sets imposing bulk against fragile linearity. Matt Calderwood took the thrusting dynamism of concrete urban architecture as his starting-point, but ends up undermining its solidity and strength. Kate Atkin invaded the spectator’s space with dark, ominous protuberances, bursting out of their confines. And Conrad Shawcross often sets his sculpture in motion, surging through the room as it flings fierce, sinister shadows on every available surface.

At another extreme Kate Terry used threads, pinning them to the walls and then guiding them as they twist and turn in ethereal, web-like veils which alter our perception of space. But Daniel Silver roamed freely through the entire history of sculpture, reasserting the ancient idea of carved heads on plinths in order to explore suffering, mortality and the will to survive. Sculptural tradition was also confronted in an experimental film by Rosalind Nashashibi and Lucy Skaer, who invaded New York’s Metropolitan Museum at night and, with the aid of a flashing strobic light, made even the oldest carvings on display there look caught unawares. Like all the other exhibits in the rest of Lismore Castle’s new show, these haunting images take on an unexpected life of their own.