Interview with Eleanor McCaughey: “The work grows with me, it evolves as I navigate the world around me with its ups and downs.”

My art practice is a really important part of my life, it has become cathartic and It grounds me mentally. My studio practice has gotten me through a couple of tough patches in my life, it’s definitely therapeutic for me. Recently I have been researching and developing a new visual language that deals with themes of belonging, displacement, and loss of faith, looking at theological and cosmic notions through a multifarious practice that includes installation, painting, sculpture, and video.

You started in animation! How did you pivot from that into contemporary art?

I read somewhere, that at the end of the day in the studio, always leave a task unfinished so you have something to work on straight away when you return the next day. When I get into the studio I close the door behind me and I get a release of energy. I dive headfirst into making in a flurry and I will do this for about 3 hours, after which I have to take a tea break. Tea, chocolate and peanuts are a studio staple. There is an important focus on materials in my work so I will sculpt or paint with whatever I can get my hands on. Usually, the materials that I have lying around in the studio determine the work. The size of the studio space also influences qualities of the work and it’s output, for example, the scale of the work or the material quality of the work. 

I have always embraced colour in my work. My formative years were the 80s and 90s so I was always into bright graphics, filters and patterns, I was influenced by gig posters and album covers. I enjoy colour theory and experimenting with it, I also use it as a tool to create a feeling in a painting. My paintings are becoming more experimental and intuitive with an influence by the history of iconographers in my family. My painting is steadily evolving through new materials (wax, gouache and oil sticks) and adopting decorative and uncanny qualities that animate when drenched in light. 

I am usually most proud of my most recent works because the works are always evolving. Each exhibition is built on ideas from the last exhibition, I try to push these ideas and think about the work differently for each show. The work grows with me, it evolves as I navigate the world around me with its ups and downs. If I am lucky enough to have the freedom to make site-specific work for a given gallery this also affects the direction of the work. I am always exhilarated by the idea of creating an immersive space. I suppose I could be chasing that feeling of when I was a child crawling behind the Christmas tree with all of its coloured lights on or building a hut out of the couch cushions. I am proud of the work I made for learning to smell the smoke installation that was part of the “Bones in the attic” exhibition curated by Victoria Evans at the Hugh Lane. This work was made in Temple Bar Gallery and Studio’s and it was a lot bigger than me and very physical to make.

Art is subjective, and everyone comes to a work with their own experiences, viewing the world through a different lens than mine. There isn’t a specific message I am trying to convey in my work, I suppose it is more of a feeling I am trying to capture. As a child and a young adult I had a strong belief in something bigger than myself. I used to visit churches and went to mass and I enjoyed the spiritual feeling that was outside of myself. The idea of the other, the unexplainable, I found comfort in the magic of it all. I miss the sounds, the smells and the sanctuary of a church. I hope my work has an inviting quality like a sanctuary of sorts that takes your mind off of yourself for even a minute. The colour, textures, the way the viewer activates the glitter in the work is all intentional.