Tom Molloy (b. 1964, Ireland) addresses contemporary geopolitical conditions in drawings, photographs, paper sculptures, and similarly "minor" media, such as printed fabric or embroidery. His work revolves around the United States of America, its actions, and effects on the world, according to the logic of symbols in Molloy's interest in American symbols and its place in the world is particularly remarkable considering the fact that the artist is Irish, living and working far from the events that his work engages, in a remote and rural part of County Clare. That the art he creates revolves around America speaks, not only of America's hegemony in the cultural, economic, political, and military spheres, but also of its dominance in the realm of the imagination, even of those who might be insulated by location and nationality.
With Soapbox, 2008, Tom Molloy deconstructs an American cultural icon: Andy Warhol's Brillo boxes. The title of the work plays with the political term "soap boxing", which refers to people who would stand on a wooden soap box for impromptu public speaking. The work therefore literally flattens an icon of American politics, art, and consumerism.
Tom Molloy received his MA in Fine Art from The National College of Art & Design in Dublin in 1992.
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2010 Moeller Fine Art, Berlin
Aldrich Museum of Contemporary Art in Ridgefield, Connecticut, USA
2009 PERUGI artecontemporanea, Italy
Lora Reynolds Gallery, Texas, USA
2008 Galerie Guy Bärtschi Geneva, Switzerland
Solstice Arts Centre, Navan, Ireland
2007 Rubicon Gallery Dublin, Ireland
Lora Reynolds Gallery, Texas, USA
2006 "Present Future," Arissima Turin, Italy (selected by Katerina Gregos)
2005 "Yo Lo Vi," Limerick City Gallery of Art, Limerick, Ireland
"Yo Lo Vi," Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2004 "Allegiance," Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2002 "Dead Texans," Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
"Dead Texans," Garter Lane Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland
2001 "Ballyconnoe South," Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
1999 "Oak," Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
"Oak," Garter Lane Arts Centre, Dublin, Ireland
1997 "Time," Rubicon Gallery Dublin, Ireland
1996 "The Labours of Heracles," Rubicon Gallery Dublin, Ireland
1994 "World Gone Wrong," Rubicon Gallery Dublin, Ireland
1992 "New Paintings," Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009 "Manifest Destiny," Moeller Fine Art, Berlin
"Paper Trail v 5 Intimate Gestures", Judi Rotenberg Gallery, Boston, USA
"Ouverture," Moeller Fine Art, Berlin (Inaugural exhibition)
Pulse New York, USA Art Fair (with Lora Reynolds Gallery (solo))
ArtBrussels, Belgium (with Rubicon Gallery)
"NOT TOO BAD (again)," curated by Martina Gambillara and Andrea Perugi,
PERUGI artecontemporanea, Italy
2008 "Modern Art. Modern Lives. Then + Now", Austin Museum of Art, curated by Dana
Friis Hansen.
"M.A.P.," N.O. Gallery, Milan, Italy
Pulse New York Art, Pulse Miami & Art Forum Berlin, Germany (with Rubicon Gallery)
Invited: TULCA 2008, Galway, Ireland, Curated by George Bolster
"Exploration," Drogheda Arts Festival, Ireland. Curated by Ruairí Ó Cuív
2007 "The Sleep of Reason," Crawford Open 2007, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
"Cartography," Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
"Histoire de L'oeil," Galerie HO, Marseille, France
"The Worst is / Not to Die in Summer," Kunstverein Wiesbaden, Germany
Pulse New York, USA (with Rubicon Gallery) Pulse London, UK (with Lora Reynolds Gallery)
MACO Art Fair Mexico (with Rubicon Gallery)
2006 Irish American Awards (nominee), New York, USA
"This Ain't No Fooling Around," Rubicon Gallery, Dublin (curated by Joseph R Wolin) –
with Stephen Andrews, Marc Handelman, Josephine Meckseper, Steve Mumford,
Barbara Pollack ( & toured to Letterkenny Arts Centre, Donegal)
Arco, Madrid, Spain; Pulse, New York, USA & Pulse, Miami, USA (with Rubicon Gallery)
2005 "Contemporary Art from Ireland," European Central Bank, Frankfurt Germany
Arco, Madrid, Spain & Art Cologne, Germany (with Rubicon Gallery)
"Happy Holiday," Rubicon Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2004 "In the Time of Shaking," Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
Art Brussels, Belgium, Fiac Paris, France & Art Cologne, Germany (with Rubicon Gallery)
2003 "Someone to Watch over me," Smart Project Space, Amsterdam, Netherlands
"Portrayal," Model Niland Gallery, Sligo, Ireland
"Recent Acquisitions," Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
"Lineage (two person exhibitin)," Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland
"Public & Private Narratives," Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
2002 "The Unblinking Eye," Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
Brussels, Belgium (with Rubicon Gallery)
2001 "The Garden," Model Niland Gallery, Sligo, Ireland
Brussels, Belgium (with Rubicon Gallery)
2000 "The Whoseday Book" Irish Hospice Foundation, Ireland
Contemporary Art Society, Arts Futures, London, England
1999 "Recent Acquisitions," Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland
1998 "Vital Presence, "Belltable Arts Centre, Limerick, Ireland
1997/95 "Banquet Exhibition," RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
1996 Boyle Arts Festival, Boyle, Co. Roscommon, Ireland
1988-94 "National Portrait Exhibition," Dublin (Prize Winner)
1993 "Iontas," Sligo Art Gallery, Sligo, Ireland
1992 "Oireachtas Exhibition," RHA Gallagher Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
1988 "EV+A 88," Limerick City Art Gallery, Ireland
1987 "Nineteen Eighty Seven Painters", An Bord Trachtala Offices, Brussels, Belgium
"Festival Inter celtique de L'Orient," Brittany, France
"SADE," Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
"Living Art Exhibition, "Hop Store, Dublin, Ireland
INTERNATIONAL AWARDS
2008 RIAA Residency, Argentina
Arts Council Bursary Award (multi annual)
2007 Culture Ireland (award to support exhibition in USA)
Arts Council Bursary Award (one year)
2005 Arts Council Project Grant
2004 Tony O'Malley Travel Award
Arts Council Exhibition Award
2004 & 1995 Arts Council Materials Grant
1990 Thomas Dammann Junior Trust, Travel Scholarship to Italy
