The first large scale exhibition in Ireland of the internationally- acclaimed Irish artist, Dorothy Cross open at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on the 3rd of June.
The Dorothy Cross exhibition comprises more than 40 works, including sculpture, installation, performance, photography and film, and covers the period from the late '80s to date. The exhibition includes a number of Cross's iconic sculptures, Amazon 1988 and Virgin Shroud 1993 alongside some of her best-known films, Eyemaker, 2000 and Jellyfish Lake, 2002.
Dorothy Cross came to prominence in the 1980s with a series of witty and inventive works in a variety of media exploring contemporary sexual and political mores. The exhibition features a key work from this period, Shark Lady in a Ball Dress, 1988, a work than brings together many of the central elements in Cross's work. The shark's accentuated breasts and woven bronze dress serve to undermine its usual status as an archetype of aggression, while its uptight stance has clear phallic undertones.
In the 1990's, Cross work took the form of an extended series of sculptures using cured cowhide and stuffed, drawing on the symbolic associations of these materials to powerful effect with works like Virgin Shroud. Another strand of Cross's work in this period was her exploration of found or disused structures and their contents with works like Bible, 1995, exploring religious iconography in a modern secular society.
More recently, Cross has devoted much of her time to developing large-scale public events and projects such as Ghostships, 1998, a homage to the lightships which once encircled the Irish coast, and Stabat Mater, 2005, documenting an opera performance in a slate quarry in Valentia Island which Cross produced with Opera Theatre Company.
A fascinating retrospective of one of Ireland's most challenging artists, Dorothy Cross exhibits at IMMA from the 3rd of June to the 11th of September.
Admission is Free.
Opening Hours:
Tuesday to Saturday: 10am - 5.30pm
Sunday & Bank Holidays: 12pm - 5.30pm
Irish Museum of Modern Art
The Royal Hospital
Kilmainham
Dublin 8.
Tel: +353 (0) 1 612 9900
Web: IMMA
Images: Dorothy Cross filming Jellyfish Lake¸ Palau, Micronesia, 2002
