We are delighted to welcome artist, Louise Ward to the RHA studios as part of the 2023 - 2024 programme.
Sources for beginning a painting, in Louise Ward’s practice, range from anatomical drawings, mapping, screenshots and scrap-booking, to abstract mark-making that is improvised and cathartic.
Ward develops a conversation with each work over time, starting out with a shape that she’s comfortable with and giving form to a message that surprises her when it comes to light – this process can be psychological, political, philosophical or social; related to the body, the mind, healing, how one interacts with others, in family, in society, online. She considers her language to be diaristic, feminine and active, occupying a space that responds to the bold colours of LED screens, while simultaneously offering a rest from technology. A handmade personal painting (PP), intentionally similar in scale to a laptop, the emerging work calls temporality, aesthetics and the complexities of self into question.
Louise Ward lives and works in Dublin. She holds an MA in Fine Art from Chelsea College of Art London and has worked across the mediums of painting, video, sound and performance – exhibiting independently and working collaboratively with other artists. She has participated in screenings, group shows and artist-led projects at The Artist’s Institute, Roth, CAGE, Location One and New Museum in NYC; the Institute of Contemporary Art London; the Centre for Contemporary Arts Glasgow; Temple Bar Gallery + Studios and CONNECT Dublin. Her work has been reviewed in Artforum, Gallerist NY, Visual Artists Ireland and The Irish Times.
The RHA Studio Programme awards a number of artists' residencies at the RHA each year.
Image: Louise Ward, Friendship, 2022, Aquarelle and collage on panel, 33 x 23 cm, Photography, Denis Mortell, Image courtesy of the artist.
Louise Ward, Table, 2024, Aquarelle and collage on panel, 33 x 23 cm, Photography, Louis Haugh, Image courtesy of the artist.
Louise Ward, Rose, 2024, Aquarelle and collage on panel, 33 x 23 cm, Photography, Louis Haugh, Image courtesy of the artist.
