I Can See McCleary Now

Seeds 2022 Lisa McCleary

having just made her RHA Annual Exhibition in the big city, Greystones’ Lisa McCleary is about to host her first solo exhibition back in the old country. 

Running in September, I’ll Be In Touch will be at An Tigin – just opposite the cop shop – from the 8th to the 17th.

With, being an Irish exhibition, a break on the 11th and 12th.

Hailing from that hotbed of creativity known as Lower Kindlestown Road, Lisa McCleary has been based in the US ever since she could afford the plane fare.

And now, having made her Irish debut this summer at the Royal Hibernian Academy, the globe-trotting artist – whose work ‘addresses mediated corporeality and is anchored by the embodiment of touch’ – is ready to bring it all back home.

“The RHA was my first time showing my work in Ireland after living in New York for the last 6 years,” she tells your snoreaway Guide. “So, as you can imagine, I was slightly over the moon about this. And now, I get to hold an exhibition in my hometown…”

It was back in July 2019 that McCleary had her first solo show, at Manhattan’s Gallery MC, whilst last year, Mexico City’s Shelf Gallery succumbed, followed by the Irish Consulate in New York City plus a nomination for the Irish Echo Arts And Culture Award 2022 and the semi-finals of the Smithsonian Museum’s National Portrait Gallery’s Outwin Boochever competition.

An Tigin, Marine Terrace

Now, here’s more from McCleary on her current work…

“I employ a layered artistic process to create surrealist distortions and anthropomorphic beings.

“My current series of work investigates the malleability of identity and the nature of the human spirit.

“I explore the intersection of vulnerability and resilience, materiality, absurdity, ambiguity, otherness and the tactile.”

So, typical Lower Kindlestown shenanigans then.

You can check out Lisa’s work at An Tigin from Sept 8th to 17th, 12pm to 6pm, explore her website here, find out about those early years here, and follow her latest shenanigans on Instagram here.