Yesterday I visited NI/ London-based artist John Rainey in his (amazingly equipped!) home studio. I invited John to work with me on a new initiative that I’m coordinating on behalf of VAI NI.
About John:
Through a series of classical references and both manual and digital (3D Print) processes, my sculptures consider how digital cultures, advancing technologies and photographic practices can suggest new pathways for representing the body. With the aid of emerging 3D print technologies as a source for rethinking approaches to sculptural practice, my work explores recent (increasingly digitised) changes to our cultural, personal and social ways of living and communicating.
John Rainey is a sculptor based in Northern Ireland, working mainly with 3D print technologies and ceramics. He completed his master’s degree at the Royal College of Art, London, in 2012.
John is an associated artist of Marsden Woo Gallery, London, where his first solo exhibition was held in 2013. In the same year, he completed a four-month residency at Konstfack University for the Creative Arts as the Anglo-Swedish Society’s Visual Arts Scholar and was selected to produce a large-scale installation for “COLLECT 2013 Project Space” at the Saatchi Gallery, London. Recent exhibitions include “Less + More” at Oonagh Young Gallery, Dublin and “On Visibility” at Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast.
About the programme:
Working with non-traditional spaces in which to view art (hotels, historic houses etc.) this programme seeks to pair artists and curators to think about ways to reach new audiences, make interventions and expand their practice in a way that doesn’t rely upon a white cube aesthetic.
The first venue will be Bullitt – a new hotel in Belfast. The exhibition will launch on 2 February from 6pm to coincide with Late Night Art Belfast. I am curating this first exhibition in the series, after which I will represent VAI NI in coordinating the ongoing programme.
Everyone welcome! Hope to see some of you there. More images to follow.
Image: studio shot, courtesy of John Rainey.
