• Eleanor McCaughey—There is a policeman in all our heads; he must be destroyed. Installation view.
  • Eleanor McCaughey, Absinthe hour (2017). Oil on Canvas.
  • Eleanor McCaughey—There is a policeman in all our heads; he must be destroyed. Installation view.
  • Eleanor McCaughey—There is a policeman in all our heads; he must be destroyed. Installation view.
  • Eleanor McCaughey—There is a policeman in all our heads; he must be destroyed. Installation view.

30/08/17—02/09/17

Eleanor McCaughey—There is a policeman in all our heads; he must be destroyed

‘There is a policeman in all our heads; he must be destroyed’ is an exhibition of current works by artist Eleanor McCaughey.  The work engages with painting as an amalgamation of still life, sculpture and portraiture. It explores contemporary representations of portraiture, referencing the tradition of still life.

The title of the exhibition has been taken from Adam Curtis’s 2002 documentary series ‘Century of the self’. ‘Century of the Self’ advances the thesis that Freud’s views of the unconscious set the stage for corporations, and later politicians, to market to our unconscious fears and desires.
McCaughey’s work looks at self expression, the way we examine and present ourselves, our attitudes to fashions and our desire for instant approval through the distorting lens of social media. The work juxtaposes past ideas of identity and power with new ideas, taking reference from elaborately embellished Asmat ancestor skulls, Christian iconography to the modern day selfie.

Eleanor McCaughey is an Irish artist living and working in Dublin. In 2011 she graduated with an honours degree in Fine Art from Dublin Institute of Technology. Eleanor has exhibited both nationally and internationally including the National Portrait Gallery London, the Royal Ulster Academy Belfast, the Royal Dublin Society and the Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin. She was awarded the Conor Prize for a figurative work from the Royal Ulster Academy in 2014 and the KM Evans Painting Prize, from the Royal Hibernian Academy in 2015.  Her work is represented in the OPW art collection and private collections in Ireland, Europe, United States and Canada.

www.eleanormccaughey.net / eleanor.mccaughey@gmail.com
@eleanormccaughey

Photography: Steven Maybury ©2017