My name is Karl Mooney. I am a Dubliner, I live in Rush in the North of the County. I have been a graphic designer for 30 odd years and encourage by one or 2 great tutors in a craft course in Colaiste Dhulaigh I decided to study Fine Art in 2023.
My work to date is a meandering excursion about memory, archetypes, myths and popular culture. I am particularly interested in the ‘event’ and the re-counting of that event, and what gets lost, added or twisted in the recounting. My work also questions time and the idea of progress as a constant linear advancement.
My influences are Carl Jung, R. D. Laing, Alice Neal, Eva Hesse, Hélio Oiticica, Lydia Clark, Mike Kelly, Richard Prince, Oisin Kelly, Maurizio Cattalan and more lately Rick Owens, amongst others.
The solution is a line…
or a wall.
To one side, the banal, the under cooked. On the other side is the bad taste and the boorish.
Finish on either side of the line and you have failed, but you won’t fail, just keep pushing or pulling towards the heat of the line.
On the line is where you want to be and will be. Exalted, with a wonderful view of all you pervail.
Godspeed.
I am interested in mixing stories up. Playing with timelines and characters. Trying to find links between stories that are centuries apart. For example the above image of Anubis and Little Red Riding Hood, or mixing Cuchullain with the martyrdom of Sao Sebastian (here) or adding Snoop Dog to the mix (below). It’s just a mechanism really, to help build new story lines which resonate with people.
