Opening Reception Thursday 12 January at 6pm

This exhibition features two works from the Irish Pavilion at the 2011 Venice Art Biennale re-imagined for the Atrium Space at the RHA.

The vinyl drawing, on the window of the RHA Atrium, involves Walker’s response to his experience of the built environment and also plays with mathematical rules and principles, both common themes in his work. It is a visual game of sorts whereby the artist begins with a black vinyl square of 60mm and projects this square, successively reducing it by half its own dimension until it becomes almost invisible, hence the title Transparent Wall.

Please Adjust, the largest work, comprises 176 interlocking stainless steel cube frames. As the title suggests the configuration which is subject to alteration at each installation questions the notion of sculpture as a constant stable form. The title also references the enormous economic crisis that has affected nearly every country since 2008, Ireland in particular, and how we as individuals may have to adjust expectations and positions. Just as each unit in this sculpture depends on the other for stability, individuals are all subject to the consequences of one action against another and exterior forces beyond our control.

Corban Walker (b. 1967, Dublin, Ireland) is an artist known for his investigations of perceptions of scale and architectural constructs. In 1992 Walker graduated from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin, with a degree in Sculpture. Since then he has worked across a broad range of media, ranging from painting, drawing, digital art, and sculpture to large-scale and site-specific installations. At the height of four-feet tall, the artist’s personal relationship between self and the built environment is fundamental to the way he defines and develops his work. Embracing concepts of both architecture and minimalism, Walker uses specific local and cultural philosophies to encourage viewers to re-examine the way they conceptualise, navigate, and interact with their surroundings. In 1996, the artist represented Ireland in L’Imaginaire Irlandais Festival, in Poitiers, France. Recent exhibitions include Dublin Contemporary, Size Does Matter, FLAG Art Foundation, New York and Mapping Hugh Lane (The Golden Bough Series), Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane. His work is part of numerous public and private collections around the world, including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. Since 2004 he has lived and worked in New York.

The exhibition will tour to Lismore Castle Arts, Co Waterford from June to August 2012.

Ireland at Venice: tour in Ireland supported by the Arts Council in partnership with Culture Ireland.