Irish artist Richard Malone has created a sculpture installation for the Council of the European Union's Justus Lipsius and Europa buildings in Brussels, marking Ireland's turn at the EU presidency. Titled Cuimhne agus Séadchomhartha (Memory and Monument), the work features colourful fabric creations with dramatic drapes and folds, resembling mythical creatures.
Challenging Irish art history
Malone aims to rewrite the story of what it means to be Irish. 'A lot of artwork in Ireland was predominantly made by one type of man,' he says, highlighting how historical work by queer and female artists and craftspeople has been erased or anonymised. 'It's like in museums, where what we see is often the result of what British men on grand tours have chosen. Those men didn't have exposure to types of labour that involve cloth or stitch. So when they're discovering, say, the mummies in Egypt and they're wrapped in these amazing quilts and fabrics, they're just cutting through them to get to the gold.' He asks: 'Why aren't certain stitch samplers or certain quilts collected? Why are certain artists not on our curriculum?'
Background and influences
Born to a working-class family in Wexford, Malone learned practical skills from his decorator father. By age seven he could drive a car, and spent his teenage years painting on building sites. 'I'm very sensitive to colour because I spent so much time literally watching paint dry,' he says. He picked up sewing from his grandmother, intrigued by how gender determined who carried out certain jobs. His work strives to dismantle such binaries and elevate traditional crafts to fine art.
After studying sculpture in Carmarthen, Wales, Malone was an outsider as a fashion student at Central Saint Martins in London. He later made bespoke pieces for wealthy women and worked with Björk, designing the dress she wore in the video for Atopos. 'We're on a similar wavelength, so it's all been very natural – no PR involved or brand deals or any of that shit,' he says.
Sustainability and integrity
Malone became disillusioned with fashion's sustainability issues after an internship at a luxury brand. 'So much of the judgment of your work is based on how much you sell. But surely, with the way the world is, we don't need 100,000 of anything?' He laughs: 'I'd always assumed there would be some authority that said, stop, you've made enough now!'
Transitioning to the art world was tricky, but in 2017 he designed a jumpsuit for MoMA's Items: Is Fashion Modern? show. In 2023, the Royal Academy of Arts in London commissioned him to design the centrepiece of their summer exhibition with just six weeks' notice. He created a brilliant blue hanging sculpture titled Filiocht Faoi Bhron, as an Dorchadas (Poem in the Dark About Sadness), using welding skills taught by his father.
EU presidency installation
Malone's father, James, who died earlier this year, helped on many exhibitions, including laying carpet underlays and making vitrines for a show responding to modernist architect Eileen Grey. For the EU headquarters, Malone is fitting out presidency suites with works by contemporary Irish artists, including sofas, rugs, and burnished wood vessels. 'There's a lot of red tape around the security and safety of the building in terms of bomb threats and things that need to be cleared when there's a global emergency,' he notes.
Other presidencies have commissioned 'a lot of polished sculptural works, whereas what I'm putting in is quite fragile and delicate, in conflict with all the glass and steel,' Malone says. The installation runs from 14 July to 31 December at the Council of the European Union's Justus Lipsius and Europa buildings in Brussels.
