‘Mistresses, Muses, Madwomen et al’
Joyce Duffy
Joyce Duffy graduated from NCAD in 1994 with an honours degree in fine art painting. Her practice includes painting, sculpture, video, installation and performance.
The central theme of much of her work is the politics of power. Duffy believes that the personal is political. Ideas of power and our human encounter with the world are examined in her work. History, philosophy, world politics, popular culture, advertising and art history inform her work and recurring references are made to these areas.
Duffy works in a variety of media, allowing the concerns of the work to dictate the correct medium in any particular instance. Often using non-traditional art materials from the domestic sphere, she has sewn and baked her work, and created life sized food sculptures using chocolate, icing sugar and pastry.
“Sharp, witty, cutting, never boring, always surprising, Duffy uses humour as a key weapon to carry her message. Her humour humanises rather than compromises the seriousness of much of her ideas.” Curator Carissa Farrell.
Duffy has had two major solo shows in public galleries, namely in Draiocht Blanchardstown and in South Tipperary Arts Centre Clonmel.
Her awards include, a commission by Breaking Ground, Ballymun Regeneration’s per cent for art programme, two Arts Council materials grants and a DLRCoCo Professional development grant.
Her work has featured in many juried exhibitions nationwide. She has participated in EV+A exhibition of visual arts in Limerick on four occasions and has also been selected for the RHA Annual Exhibition four times. Other Exhibitions include: Sculpture in Context (Invited artist and adjudicator); Claremorris Open (Award winner); Crawford Open; Iontas; Boyle Arts festival’s Emerging Artists’ Exhibition (Invited artist); Laois Arts Festival (invited Artist); Kilkenny Fringe Festival.
A native of Dun Laoghaire she has exhibited in the DLR Open Visual Concourse Exhibition 2008, Home DLR Open Exhibition Municipal Gallery Lexicon 2015, ArtNetDLR’s Interaction Project 2016 and most recently in the ArtNetDLR Hinterland Exhibition in 2019. Duffy’s work has featured in print media and on the John Kelly’s Arts Show, Cuarsai Elaine and Nationwide on RTE.
Instagram: @j.o.y.c.e.d.u.f.f.y
