Margaret O'Brien MFA

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Margaret O’Brien graduated from the Slade School of Art, London with MFA in Fine Art in 2004 and from Limerick School of Art, Ireland in 1995 with BA in Fine Art. O’Brien’s practice is currently based in London. She has exhibited on an international level and was recently highly commended for her site-specific show at Pallas Heights, Dublin 2006. O’Brien has won numerous awards for her work from both UK and Irish Arts Funding bodies. These include The Arts Council of Ireland Artist Bursary 2006, The Slade School of Art Adrian Carruthers Award 2004, and the AIB Art Prize 2003. O’Brien works as a Visiting Lecturer in Fine Art at a number of Higher Education Institutes in the UK and Ireland. She is also a Print Studio Co-ordinator at London Print Studio.

Prior to moving to London, O’Brien worked intensively at the Black Church Print Studio, Dublin. Throughout a four year period from 1998-2002 she held the position of elected Director of the Board, Master Printmaker, Course Tutor, Acting Studio Edition Artist and Studio Technician.

Artist Statement:   
My work refers to a psychological in-between space, the area that exists between the private and public self, and between the self and others. This space is one of uncertainty, insecurity and threat. It involves accompanying issues such as communication and façade, isolation and alienation, anxiety, anticipation, agoraphobia and claustrophobia.

I am interested in the intangible nature of this interstice and its instability. It directly relates to our psychological wellbeing and our relationships with others, and is fragile and changeable in the extreme. Using devices such as sporadic sound, live malfunction, scale, and the multiple, I wish to affect the psyche of the viewer through an involuntary, sensory response to the work.

I draw my sources from the everyday, the familiar, with particular reference to the domestic environment. In recreating objects or spaces that we encounter on a daily basis, I replace their normally functional or benign fundamentals with an element of malfunction or mishap.

My practice has expanded over the last four years, from primarily printmaking and photography to site-specific installation involving a variety of media including found objects, multiples, sculpture, video, sound and light.