Holly O’Brien (b.1984) is an Irish multidisciplinary artist based in Glasgow. Her work inhabits the sticky boundaries between sculpture, live performance and moving image installations. Playing with the relationship between corporeality and the digital realm she uses mythology and folklore as a lens to examine human behaviours and impulses. Exploring the mystical flora and fauna created in these new digital lands, her work attempts to navigate the feedback loop between our collective unconscious and technology.
Framing the internet as a costume which transcends the physical, a vehicle for the psyche, she constructs full body latex costumes and sculptural landscapes, hybrid forms morphed together from the optical arenas of the internet such as social media, streaming platforms and pornography. Using fleshy materials such as latex and gelatine, O’Brien’s work viscerally embodies the paradox of inhabiting the internet's virtual abyss.
O’Brien recently graduated from her MFA at the Glasgow School of Art, which was funded by the Leverhulme Scholarship Trust. She received her B.A in Fine Art from the Limerick School of art specialising in sculpture, followed by studying Costume Design for Stage and Screen at Inchicore Dublin. She has received the Agility Award twice from the Irish Arts Council and was shortlisted for New Contemporaries 2024.
Holly O’Brien
hobholly@gmail.com
Instagram
Education
2022-2024 Glasgow School of Art, Master of Fine Art
2011-2013 Inchicore College of Further Education, Fetac level 5&6 Costume Design for Stage & Screen
2006-2007 Limerick Institute of Technology, Honours Degree in Fine Art- Sculpture and Combined Media
2003-2006 Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design, Ordinary Degree in Fine Art, specialising in Sculpture
Exhibitions & Performances
2025 Never Go out, Galvanizers Space, SW3G, Glasgow
2024 MFA Degree Show, The Glue Factory, Glasgow
2023 HFBK x GSA Show, Institute for Contemporary Art & Transfer, HFBK, Hamburg
2023 Chaos Reigns, David Dale Warehouse, Glasgow
2023 HFBK x GSA Show, Institute for Contemporary Art & Transfer, Glue Factory, Glasgow
2023 Swatched- Blush, Group ShowThe Pipe Factory Glasgow
2023 Interim Show, Kinetic Sculpture, The Reid Gallery, Glasgow School of Art
2019 Horn & Bone, Sculptural Installation, The Auxiliary, Middlesbrough, England
2018 Sheela's Gig, Performance, Fuinneamh Music Festival, Co.Louth
2017 Goat Shed, Performance and Music Venue, Townlands Carnival Festival, Co. Cork
2016 Goat Shed, Performance and Music Venue, Townlands Carnival Festival, Co. Cork
2016 Myths of the Future Exotic, Performance, KAVA, Culture Night, Kinvara, Co. Galway
2016 Myths of the Future Exotic, Performance, Studio 6, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin
2015 Sheela's Gig, Performance, Body and Soul Festival, Co. Meath
2015 Raven Escape, Performance, Life Festival, Co. Westmeath
2014 Raven Escape, Performance, Body and Soul Festival, Co. Meath
2008 Once Removed, Wexford Arts Centre, curated by Sean Lynch
2007 Welcome to the Neighbourhood, Askeaton, curated by Michele Horrigan
2006 Group Show, The Lab Gallery, curated by Nigel Rolfe
Workshops
2022 Royal Hibernian Academy – Teenage Sculpture Week
2018 Royal Hibernian Academy - Plaster cast making & papier maché
2018 Three Sisters Craft, Glasnevin - Halloween papier maché mask making
2019 Richmond Road Studios - Clay sculpting & papier maché
2020 A4 Sounds Studios - Plaster bandage body casting
Awards
2024 The Agility Award - The Art Council Ireland
2023 Gilbert Bayes Award
2022 The Leverhulme Master of Fine Art Bursary
2022 The Agility Award - The Art Council Ireland
hobholly@gmail.com
Education
2022-2024 Glasgow School of Art, Master of Fine Art
2011-2013 Inchicore College of Further Education, Fetac level 5&6 Costume Design for Stage & Screen
2006-2007 Limerick Institute of Technology, Honours Degree in Fine Art- Sculpture and Combined Media
2003-2006 Dún Laoghaire Institute of Art and Design, Ordinary Degree in Fine Art, specialising in Sculpture
Exhibitions & Performances
2025 Never Go out, Galvanizers Space, SW3G, Glasgow
2024 MFA Degree Show, The Glue Factory, Glasgow
2023 HFBK x GSA Show, Institute for Contemporary Art & Transfer, HFBK, Hamburg
2023 Chaos Reigns, David Dale Warehouse, Glasgow
2023 HFBK x GSA Show, Institute for Contemporary Art & Transfer, Glue Factory, Glasgow
2023 Swatched- Blush, Group ShowThe Pipe Factory Glasgow
2023 Interim Show, Kinetic Sculpture, The Reid Gallery, Glasgow School of Art
2019 Horn & Bone, Sculptural Installation, The Auxiliary, Middlesbrough, England
2018 Sheela's Gig, Performance, Fuinneamh Music Festival, Co.Louth
2017 Goat Shed, Performance and Music Venue, Townlands Carnival Festival, Co. Cork
2016 Goat Shed, Performance and Music Venue, Townlands Carnival Festival, Co. Cork
2016 Myths of the Future Exotic, Performance, KAVA, Culture Night, Kinvara, Co. Galway
2016 Myths of the Future Exotic, Performance, Studio 6, Temple Bar Gallery, Dublin
2015 Sheela's Gig, Performance, Body and Soul Festival, Co. Meath
2015 Raven Escape, Performance, Life Festival, Co. Westmeath
2014 Raven Escape, Performance, Body and Soul Festival, Co. Meath
2008 Once Removed, Wexford Arts Centre, curated by Sean Lynch
2007 Welcome to the Neighbourhood, Askeaton, curated by Michele Horrigan
2006 Group Show, The Lab Gallery, curated by Nigel Rolfe
Workshops
2022 Royal Hibernian Academy – Teenage Sculpture Week
2018 Royal Hibernian Academy - Plaster cast making & papier maché
2018 Three Sisters Craft, Glasnevin - Halloween papier maché mask making
2019 Richmond Road Studios - Clay sculpting & papier maché
2020 A4 Sounds Studios - Plaster bandage body casting
Awards
2024 The Agility Award - The Art Council Ireland
2023 Gilbert Bayes Award
2022 The Leverhulme Master of Fine Art Bursary
2022 The Agility Award - The Art Council Ireland
