Marian Balfe—Appropriate Colours

Appropriate Colours presents a series of sculptures and works on paper reflecting on the seemingly eclectic, yet often prescribed use of colour in Ireland’s rural vernacular architecture. Focusing on building types such as the common hay barn, this body of work creates an environment wherein primary elements of architecture such as form, function and structure are rendered defunct through the use of makeshift materials. The role of colour in architecture is instead elevated to that of the elemental. Colour becomes the source of strength and rigidity within this landscape of otherwise transient, pointless structures and forms.

Biography:

Marian Balfe received a First Class Joint Honours Degree in Fine Art and History of Art from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin in 2015. She previously studied Architecture in UCD and in 2010 received a BSc (Hons) in Architectural Science. Awards include the Thomas Dammann Junior Memorial Travel Prize (2015), Longford Student Arts Bursary (2014) and, most recently, the Dun Laoghaire-Rathdown Emerging Artist Bursary for the creation and development of new work.

 This exhibition is funded by Dún Laoghaire–Rathdown County Council Arts Office