I Cant Stand Up But For Falling Down
performed at Nuns Island Studio Galway, 24th November


Dublin based Nigel Rolfe's practice as an artist making live works spans thirty years. He has worked in North and South America, in the Far East and throughout Europe. He was the first artist to work in this way in Ireland and developed liveworks since 1974. Also the first to use video, he has become a senior figure in performance history. In the 1980’s he made a seminal work “The Rope” where he repeatedly bound his head in a ball of twine. He has continued to work live and is well known as an Academic and teacher.

Most recently he has made live drawings with conjoined but sometimes disparate elements juxtaposed together, bound by real time but before an audience. Often using text and sound they are interwoven layers brought together by the artist there and then. Political events and cultures are a source of critique and stimulus and usually elements used are directly sourced from the events of life. Physical but metaphorical, the body acts as a conduit and transmitter, actions repeat and emphasise, extremes expose and confront.