Thomas Pool: What can you tell us about your background and your art practice?
Colin Martin: My practice has included printmaking, film installation and painting. I’ve been mostly making paintings recently, some of which are quite large scale. I’m also an educator and Head of School in the RHA, so I split my time between practice and education. My current work is very focused on technology and digital cultures. I’m also really interested in traditional genres of painting, in terms of things that have a kind of long history; I use them as a prism to look at future orientated cultures.
I’ve been practicing for almost 30 years now. I studied printmaking in TU Dublin. After graduating, I joined Black Church Print Studio, which was a really great support system, working around other artists in the studio. I returned midcareer to do a postgraduate qualification at NCAD to broaden the range of approaches in my work. I started working in film and video, working outside the gallery system, and installing works in non-gallery spaces, which really resonated with a film I made about the ideology behind architectural space. That led to my return to painting around 2014. My most recent show, ‘Empathy Lab’, premiered at CCI Paris in September 2023, and then travelled to the Highlanes Gallery in Drogheda in March 2024.
TP: As curator for the RDS Visual Arts Awards 2024, what curatorial themes were you most interested in this year?
CM: As a curator, I wanted to have passive authorship, and kind of listen to the grass grow. I see my curatorial role as someone who takes care and shepherds the process, from the judging to the final show, and really listens to the work that young and emerging artists are making. All that said, I definitely think there was some strong themes coming through in this year’s show. Of the ten artists, quite a few are interested in critical nostalgia, looking at heritage, family history, and meaning. Quite a few artists are interested in aspects of queerness, or are approaching genres through the prism of queerness. I think another prevalent theme was digital nativism – the artists are mostly of the generation that have grown up with the complexities of digital cultures, so there’s quite a few dealing with those themes.
In this year’s show there’s a lot of physical making, in terms of sculpture and painting, that have a kind of haptic intelligence, and then there are some very sophisticated audio-visual works as well. One thing that’s really important this year is how the RDS gives you a sightline of the work that’s been made in art colleges throughout the island. Sometimes it’s only 10 or 15 artists that make it into the show, but this year they’ve invested in making videos and interviews with all 120 artists who were longlisted, which are included in the show. I think it’s important that audiences see what the judges see, and the brilliant work being done by students and art educators across Ireland.
TP: How do you view the legacy of the RDS Visual Art Awards? How has it impacted emerging practice in Ireland?
CM: The RDS Visual Art Awards have a very storied history and a real legacy. Luminaries of the of the Irish art world, like James Hanley or Dorothy Cross, are all winners of the RDS Taylor Art Award. I think that Dara O’Leary, who was the director of the awards, had a really reflective process on how the awards were fitting with the types of work that artists were making. There was a real reconfiguration of the awards around ten years ago, which was reflective of the ambition of students throughout the country. Since then, it’s been the gold standard for students and something to really aim for.
Another thing the awards do is really combine the innovation and the criticality of the work that’s been made to give wider visibility and create opportunities for the exhibiting artists. The awards have shown real ambition to platform work on a high level that creates great opportunities for artists to work with curators. The team, led this year by Karen Phillips, is also generously resourced to produce quite a sophisticated show.
TP: As Head of the RHA School and NCAD lecturer, what advice would you give to art students in launching their artistic careers upon graduation?
CM: Having taught professional practice in NCAD and the RHA, the primary thing I always say is to focus on the work, and to always make sure you’re making the best, most challenging, interesting work you can. Apart from that, I would say build a network, always surround yourself with critically minded artists that you can trust and talk with, who will challenge you, just as you will challenge them. I think that’s vitally important. The other thing I’d say is to apply for funding and to try and participate as much as possible in the art world. Apply to become a member of Visual Artists Ireland; I think that’s one of the most important things in terms of building a network in the Irish visual arts sector.
TP: Are there any upcoming projects that you’re working on?
CM: I’m in a research period at the moment, having just completed a long body of work, the ‘Empathy Lab’ project that I mentioned earlier, which took about seven to eight years to complete. What I’m interested in researching at the moment is digital assets, and how environments are made digitally in a hyperreal way. More specifically, I’m developing a new project that will be called ‘Unreal Apocalypse’, focusing on people who work in the digital industry, the gaming industry, and the film industry, who create these hyperreal environments. I’m particularly interested in notions of apocalypse and apocalyptic scenes; these seem quite real and prevalent to us but is also elusive and speculative. I’m going to explore these ideas through the techniques of painting to explore our collective interest in illusions.
Colin Martin is an artist and lecturer based in Dublin. He is currently Head of the RHA School and lectures part time in the NCAD Media Department. He is a graduate of DIT and NCAD and works in the medium of painting and film.
