Courses

Oisin Donnelly

Oisín Donnelly is a Dublin based artist who uses technology to aid his mark-making practice. In particular, he manipulates drawings with the use of a laser-cutter to etch into the surface of paper. His work is generally representational and figurative revolving around social themes and the human form. In his current body of work, entitled Conditional Existence, Oisín explores the background characters in our daily life, and questions what counts as existence. His work was exhibited in the IADT student show In the Making: Milk at Pallas Projects/Studios, 2023.

*Bullet Sponge*, 2023, Laser etched into paper, 42 x 60 cm.

*Shift + W*, 2023, Laser etched into paper, 42 x 60 cm.

*Buffing*, 2023, Laser etched into paper, 42 x 60 cm.

*30 fov*, 2023, Laser etched into paper, 42 x 60 cm.

*AFK*, 2023, Laser etched into paper, 42 x 60 cm.

*Ctrl*, 2023, Laser etched into paper, 42 x 60 cm.

*Hard Difficulty*, 2023, Laser etched into paper, 42 x 60 cm.

*Idle*, 2023, Laser etched into paper, 42 x 60 cm.

*Companion*, 2023, Laser etched into paper, 42 x 60 cm.

*Grinding*, 2023, Laser etched into paper, 42 x 60 cm.

Conditional Existence

My current work is a series titled Conditional Existence. The series focuses on the unseen figures encountered while playing video games. These background characters are very important to the atmosphere of the game, yet they are so unimportant to the plot and narrative that their character models aren’t even fixed entities in the game world. Painting a portrait of someone who doesn’t exist is intriguing to me. I want to draw attention to entities that are often overlooked. Capturing their fleeting existence, and immortalising them through using them as subjects of art is far from their intended use. This is fascinating to me, as their brief existence is solely dependent upon the presence of the game player. So if the player isn’t there to witness these characters, they wouldn’t exist. Does existence count if it is only conditional?

Thesis: Religion and Celebrity: Exploring the shifting influence of patronage in art through Rublev and Warhol.

Religion and Celebrity: Exploring the shifting influence of patronage in art through Rublev and Warhol explores the relationship of patronage and artists, religion, and celebrity with a focus on some of the works of Andrei Rublev and Andy Warhol. It concludes that this relationship is often symbiotic and necessary in that both the patron and the artist derive benefit from this collusion.