Barry Foley - Artist

Barry Foley, Irish Artist - Statement: science and art strive to ask the same fundamental questions about existence, life and the universe. Obviously they go about answering these questions in a different manner, art concentrating on the theoretical and conceptual while science tends to focuses on the physical and factual. Yet when most people hear the word ‘factual’ they seem to associate it with boredom, but the ‘fact’ of the matter is that you are standing on a section of earth as you read this. This piece of earth under your feet is composed of millions of atoms, which are composed of smaller fundamental particles called protons, neutrons, quarks, all of which are flying around at incredible speeds. If just one tiny element out of the millions on show had a different + or – charge the very ground you are standing on would not even exist. It’s one thing to “know” this but an entirely different thing to “understand” it. My work is inspired by current research in Cosmology, Physics and Quantum Mechanics, mostly focusing on the latter. The majority of this work takes on the form of 3D Animations and imaging which is then combined with painting, drawings and installation work. I use these scientific facts, traditionally seen as a demystifying force, to inject wonder into our experience of the world. I also tend to take a humorous approach to the work, this makes the viewer become comfortable with the complex theories that Quantum Mechanics confronts us with. With all of these elements in place the basic principle behind this work is to use science combined with art. Presenting it in a humorous way as to show the viewer that incredible interactions take place in even the most mundane of events. The work is designed to provoke a dialogue with the viewer, to make them question my art, the universe, even the very nature of reality itself and maybe just maybe even inject a sense of wonder back into the viewer. How? Why? Scratch your head, what the hell? That cant possible be true can it? But what if?