Tracy Sweeney

About

To build the walls & surfaces in my paintings I had to forget to be an artist. I abandoned brushes & started work with scrapers, chisels, grout & floor brushes. I started to ‘think’ like a plasterer or a builder & pondered the effects of time & weather on my formations. My mind insisted to think about concrete, metal, faded posters & teenager’s graffiti.

My dismantled surfaces are re-assembled, creating planes of unintended relationship. There are quiet segments within my work that allow the mind to rest & wander into the chaos of the adjacent texture. Each painting is made to feel like it extends beyond the four sides of its frame. On completion, my paintings become stark blocks of existing material; they are more ‘artefact’ than ‘art’. Chunks of concrete with the ‘tags’ of teenage rebellion, or metal shuttering complete with faded posters & dust, allows the viewer to ask ‘what happened here?’

It excites & frustrates me to make a painting in this manner. I must bring each work to the brink of uselessness before I can pull it back & make it work as an exciting piece of visual art. The rules are broken. This frustration, excitement & challenge are integral to each of my compositions.

Tracy Sweeney
April 2011
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Location: Stockholm, Sweden
Website: http://www.tracysweeney.com

Work

Gallery Representation:
Galleri Ingela S, Stockholm, Sweden
Grafiska Sällskapet (Swedish Printmaking Association), Stockholm, Sweden
Grafikens Hus, Mariefred, Sweden
Carrie Neely Contemporary Art, Belfast, UK
The Graphic Studio Gallery, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland
The Clyne Gallery, Exchange St. Upper, Dublin
Kilcock Art Gallery, Kilcock, Kildare, Ireland

Upcoming Solo Exhibitions:
April 2012 The Graphic Print Gallery, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland

Previous Solo Exhibitions
2010 ‘Quick! Cops!’ Galleri Ingela S, Stockholm, Sweden
2009 ‘Artefact & Error’, Galway Arts Trust, Galway Arts Festival Official Programme, Galway, Ireland
2008 ‘Thus Spoke the Silent Spaces’, Central Bank, Dame St. Dublin, Ireland
2008 ‘If you Lived Here, You would be Home by Now’, Kilkenny Arts Festival, Kilkenny, Ireland. Curated by Hugh Mulholland
2007 'Thus Spoke The Silent Spaces’ -Watergate Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland
2006 ‘Thus Spoke the Silent Spaces’- The Linenhall Arts Centre, Castlebar, Co. Mayo, Ireland
2006 ‘AP-Art’- The Galway Arts Centre, Galway.

Selected Group Exhibitions;
2010 'Matrix', The Graphic Print Studio Gallery, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland
2010 'Dynamics', Galleri Ingela S, Stockholm, Sweden
2010 XIV Grafiktriennalen (Swedish Printmaking Triennale), Konstakademien, Stockholm, Sweden & other Swedish cities throughout 2011
2010 'Längtans Landskap', Grafiska Sällskapet, Stockholm, Sweden
2010 'Le Cheile', Rhyl Arts Centre, Wales, UK
2009 Art Auction-Gallery Astley, Uttersberg, Sweden
2009 'Impact’ -Group Exhibition with Leinster Printmakers, Bristol, UK
2009 ‘Bog 50 x 70’, Rua Red South Dublin Arts Centre, Tallaght, Dublin, Ireland, curated by Peter Jones DIT
2009 Endangered Studios Group Exhibition, Kilkenny Arts Festival, No. 72 John St (Kilkenny Arts Office) & Fennellys, Callan, Co. Kilkenny, Ireland
2009 ‘Bog 50 x 70’, The Factory Space, Capel St. Dublin, Ireland
2008 ‘Greenstar’, Mermaid Art Centre, Bray, Co. Wicklow, Ireland
2007 ‘Iontas’, Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo, Ireland-Curated by Michael Dempsey
2007 'Within & Without', Limerick Printmakers, Limerick, Ireland
2007 'Within & Without' The Original Print Gallery, Temple Bar, Dublin, Ireland
2006 ‘Impressions’, The Galway Arts Centre, Galway, Ireland
2006 'Within & Without’-, White Room Gallery, Galway, Ireland-Selected by Ruairí Ó Cúiv

Commissions;
2007 Sculpture Piece, ‘Pillar of Stone’, Louisburgh, Co. Mayo, Commissioned by ‘West Mayo Developments’, Louisburgh Co. Mayo, Ireland
2005 Galway County Council & Galway Arts Centre Commission, Ireland
2003 Shortlisted for Mayo Co. Council’s Commission for Castlebar Courthouse, Mayo, Ireland

Collections;
Microsoft-Sweden
OPW-Office of Public Works-Ireland
Allied Irish Bank Collection-Ireland

Publications/Articles;
'Grafiknytt', Grafiska Sällskapet publication 2010
‘Crafts Council of Ireland Curriculum 2008’ - Photographs by Tracy Sweeney
‘Present Tense; Words & Pictures-Poems & Photographs from County Mayo’ Published by Mayo County Council, November 2006
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Education

Education:
2005 BA First Class Honours Degree in Fine Art, specializing in Printmaking, GMIT Galway, Ireland
2005 Thesis with Distinction: “Hidden Truths; The Ambiguous Photographs of Northern Ireland”
2003 Diploma in Fine Art with Distinction, specializing in Printmaking, GMIT, Galway, Ireland
2003 Thesis with Distinction: “Photographing Ireland; Contemporary Views of the Irish Locale”

Awards:
2008 Mentoring Award by Kilkenny Co. Council & Artlinks (Southeast Arts Iniative), Ireland
2008 ‘Verge’, emerging artist award by Kilkenny Arts Office, for Kilkenny Arts Festival
2005 GMIT Student Of The Year Award/De Blacom & Meagher Award, Galway, Ireland
2005 Mayo County Council Printmaking Award-Mayo, Ireland … Read More