Niamh O’Malley

About

Through sculpture and moving-image installations, Niamh O’Malley situates her objects carefully, accounting for the room and the context with the same care and attention as she selects her distinct repertoire of materials. The artist takes notice of our distance from the world, complicating the potential function of each elusively familiar object she makes. The artist’s sculptural works consist of recognisable materials such as wood and stone that partly adheres to their conventional use within furniture and architecture but, in each case, highlights their new absoluteness.

Niamh O’Malley was born in County Mayo in Ireland. In 2022, Niamh O’Malley represented Ireland at the 59th Venice Biennale in the solo exhibition, ‘Gather’. After its success in Venice, her work travelled across three institutional locations in Ireland in the spring of 2023: Temple Bar Gallery & Studios, Dublin (2023); The Model, Sligo (2023); Golden Thread Gallery, Belfast (2023).

Other recent solo exhibitions include ‘Niamh O’Malley’, Vardaxoglou Gallery, London (2025); ‘Niamh O’Malley’, Vardaxoglou Gallery, London (2023); Royal Hibernian Academy, Dublin, IE (2019); John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, UK (2021); Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, IE (2019); Grazer Kunstverein, Graz, AT (2018); Bluecoat Liverpool, UK (2015); Douglas Hyde Gallery, Dublin, IE (2017). O’Malley’s work is included in numerous private and public collections such as the The Hugh Lane, Dublin City Gallery; Irish Museum of Modern Art; the Arts Council of Ireland, Office of Public Works, Ireland; Stefan Stolitzka Collection, Graz; FRAC Méca-Nouvelle Aquitaine, France and Galleria Arte Moderna, Turin.

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Selected Works

Installation view, Niamh O'Malley: Gather, Irish Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale, 2022
Installation view, Niamh O'Malley: Gather, Irish Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale, 2022
Niamh O'Malley
Drain, 2022
limestone
30.4 x 155 x 120 cm
12 x 61 x 47 1/4 ins
Niamh O’Malley
Folds, 2019
dimensions variable
Niamh O'Malley
Untitled Panel Drawing, 2015-24
pencil, graphite and filler on panel
30.5 x 24.5 x 2.5 cm
12 x 9 5/8 x 1 ins
Niamh O'Malley
Two panels, rest, 2017
graphite and filler on panels, beech
169.5 x 71 x 22.4 cm
67 3/8 x 28 1/2 x 9 1/4 ins
Niamh O'Malley
Painting, one after another, 2015
oil on aluminium panel
140 x 250 x 5.5 cm
55 1/8 x 98 3/8 x 2 1/8 ins
Installation view, Niamh O'Malley, Vardaxoglou Gallery, 2023
Niamh O'Malley
Extended frames (pale green, moss green), 2019
Two framed, unglazed, panels of graphite on primed wood with extended walnut frames containing coloured glass
215 x 61.7 x 17.2 cm
84 5/8 x 24 1/4 x 6 3/4 ins
Niamh O'Malley
Shelf (held), 2022
beech, textured glass, coloured glass, steel
130 x 75.05 x 10 cm
51 1/8 x 29 1/2 x 4 ins
Installation view, Niamh O'Malley: Gather, Irish Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale, 2022
Niamh O'Malley
Drain, 2022
limestone
30.4 x 155 x 120 cm
12 x 61 x 47 1/4 ins
Niamh O'Malley
Blind, 2023
maple, birch, glass, coloured glass, oil paint, steel
219 x 119 x 53 cm
86 1/4 x 46 7/8 x 20 7/8 ins
Installation view, Niamh O’Malley: Handle, RHA Gallery, Dublin, 2019
Installation view, Niamh O’Malley, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 2024
Niamh O'Malley
Leafs, 2022
steel
84 x 18 x 1.8 cm
33 1/8 x 7 1/8 x 3/4 ins
Niamh O'Malley
Foiled Glass (doubled), 2022
foiled glass
92 x 25.8 x 0.8 cm
36 1/4 x 10 1/8 x 1/4 ins
Installation view, Niamh O'Malley, Vardaxoglou Gallery, 2023
Installation view, Niamh O'Malley, Lismore Castle Arts, 2019

Vardaxoglou Exhibitions

Niamh O'Malley

Solo Exhibition
21 November 2024 – 18 January 2025
Vardaxoglou, London

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Niamh O'Malley

Solo Exhibition
2 June – 14 July 2023
Vardaxoglou, London

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Selected Institutional Exhibitions

Irish Pavilion, 59th Venice Biennale

3 April – 27 November 2022
Irish Pavilion, Venice, Italy

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Gather

3 February – 16 April 2023
The Model, Sligo, Ireland

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Niamh O'Malley

2 July – 25 August 2025
Lismore Castle Arts, Ireland

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Niamh O'Malley

27 November 2021 – 26 February 2022
John Hansard Gallery, Southampton, England

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