Biography
Born in Dublin, sculptor Janet Mullarney has spent a great deal of time working in Italy.
“Her sculptures are a little like Angela Carter’s novels, where the everyday and the ordinary can suddenly plummet into the surreal and the mythic. Tables and stairs, trolleys and mattresses are the props that carry extraordinary characters. Subjects mined from the natural world and anthropo-morphized to play out human joy and human tragedy.” Patrick T.Murphy.
She has exhibited extensively in both Ireland and abroad and has held solo exhibitions at venues including Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane; the Royal Hibernian Academy; Crawford Municipal Gallery; Limerick City Gallery; Museo de Arte Contemporanea, Oaxaca, Mexico; Casa Masaccio Arte Contemporanea, San Giovanni Valdarno; Group exhibitions include “Views from an Island” Irish Contemporary Art from the Collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Millennium Art Museum, Beijing and Shanghai Art Museum; Palazzo delle Papesse, Siena; Palazzo Mediceo di Seravezza, Italy. Mullarney’s sculpture is part of the collections of Arts Council, Irish Museum of Modern Art, (IMMA); Dublin City Gallery The Hugh Lane; Limerick City Gallery of Art; Office of Public Work and Allied Irish Banks. Work in public workspaces that can be singled out would be Gröningen, Waagstraat Project, (architect Adolfo Natalini), Holland; Royal Victoria Hospitals, Belfast; St.Ultans, Cherry Orchard Primary School, (architects O’Donnell+Tuomey), Ballyfermot, Dublin.
She has been awarded with the RUA Perpetual Silver Medal, Prize 2009; The RHA Sculpture Award 2008; Irish American Cultural Institute’s O’Malley Award 2005; The Pollock Krasner Award 1998. Dept.of Foreign Affairs 2008 Awards 2003/2001/2000/1991/1989.
Janet Mullarney is a member of Aosdána.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2019 Then and Now: Janet Mullarney, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
2017 Janet Mullarney: Standing, Still Standing, RHA, Dublin
2016 Janet Mullarney: My Minds i, Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford
Selected Group Exhibitions
2022 Cover Versions: The Gallery Press, RHA, Dublin
2021 Seasonal Colour, Taylor Galleries, Dublin
2021 Winter Group Show,Taylor Galleries ,Dublin
2021 Ghosts From The Recent Past, Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
2019 Paola Fabiani & Janet Mullarney: Exploration…of what…,Villa Romana, Florence
2018 Nataly Maier, Janet Mullarney, Helen O’Leary: Ozio, Taylor Gallery, Dublin
2017 Bare Root, Wexford Arts Centre, Wexford
2017 187th Annual Exhibition, RHA, Dublin
2014 184th Annual Exhibition, RHA, Dublin