Inherited Possibility | Joseph Fogarty

Studio 12, Backwater Artists Group, Wandesford Quay, Cork

21 February – 20 March 2020. Opens Thursday 20 Feb 6pm. Tues-Fri 10am-5pm.

ARTIST TALK: Monday 16th March, 1pm

(Closed Tue 17 March for St. Patricks Day).

In association with GOMA Waterford.

Currently the work of Waterford-based artist Joseph Fogarty is based on the suggestion by Heidegger that the possibilities that we project have to be drawn from the past as a heritage. We inherit past traditions that are shared with others, and we then pursue future possibilities to define our individuality. As a means of exploring this idea of the past being with us and influencing our future, the artist uses both traditional and contemporary materials (wood, aluminium, stainless steel) found or appropriated from the built environment. Oak, cherry, and pine are representative of a link to the past and also convey a sense of the temporal. Juxtaposing the modern materials of aluminium and stainless steel resonates with the endeavour to change and develop whilst being inextricably bound to the traditions of the past.

“My work is an ongoing interrogation of the cognitive processes, involving the physical and the visual, through which we construct meaning. I am interested in exploring the idea that the viewers experience of the object is determined by their physical relationship to it, and subsequently how the bodily experience influences the perceptual experience, and how both symbiotically enhance the viewer/object relationship. In particular my investigations centre on the experience generated by this relationship within a three-dimensional structure; the way the viewer can become the ‘activation ‘ that allows mediation between the physical and the visual. Enabling the viewer to move within and around a three-dimensional structure facilitates this exploration of the physiological process by which we become aware of our presence in relation to the object. Through my research into art movements of the 1960s and 70s I am influenced by Minimalism and Conceptualism. In particular the artist Robert Morris and his association with Gestalt theory, also his idea of the viewer occupying the same space as well as forming a relationship with the work.” – Joseph Fogarty 2019.

Joseph Fogarty graduated with a BA Hons (1st Class) Degree in Visual Art from Waterford Institute of Technology in 2018, when he received the GOMA graduate artist residency award and National Sculpture Factory graduate artist residency awards and was also selected as a finalist for the RDS Visual Art Awards. Recent exhibitions include A Different View – solo exhibition at GOMA Waterford (Oct 19 – Nov 10, 2018), RDS Visual Art Awards – group exhibition curated by Amanda Coogan at Royal Dublin Society (Oct 22 – Oct 29, 2018), First View – group exhibition, Garter Lane Arts Centre, Waterford (2017).

GOMA Gallery of Modern Art is an artist-led space located at 6 Lombard Street Waterford. Operating under the Directorship of Jenna Whelan, GOMA aims to foster within society an awareness, understanding and involvement in visual arts through policies and programmes which are excellent, innovative and inclusive. GOMA aims to support artists with an exhibition programme, incubation spaces, residencies, technical facilities, skill development and opportunities to engage and establish. One such opportunity is a graduate award residency programme, which was awarded to artist Joseph Fogarty in 2018..

This exhibition and artwork are informed by a residency and research carried out at Backwater in October 2019. The 2019 residency and subsequent exhibition in 2020 is part of an exchange with GOMA as part of Backwater Artists Group 30th Anniversary programme. Cork-based artist and graduate Oisín Burke completed a similar residency in 2019 at GOMA ahead of a solo show in their exhibition space in 2020.