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.