Liz O'Brien

New Work: Isobel Egan

We are pleased to present new work by Irish artist, Isobel Egan.

Ovalis, 2019
Mounted porcelain wall sculpture.
33.75”H x 17.75”W
(see two details below)

Using architectural forms and motifs as the basis of her practice, Isobel Egan combines them in ways to intrigue the viewer, both through her handling of space and material.

Egan explains, “I work with porcelain as the intrinsic characteristics of the material, its translucence and delicate paper-like quality, enable the realisation of my concepts.” And indeed her work does have an ethereality, almost like the most exquisitely rendered architectural models of memory, if memory were a place about to vanish. Deconstructed and minimal, her porcelain elevations seem legible and logical, but there are hidden nooks that close examination reveal but do not expose.

Untitled, 2024
Mounted round porcelain wall sculpture.
29.25”Dia
(detail below)

Referencing ancient structures, Egan’s compositions have the freshness of the newly built – clean, whole, strong. But the forms themselves remind us of ruins: the foundations of the Colosseum, the triumphal arch, the labyrinth. Then they dissolve into patterns, which both reassure us and unsettle us.

Palisade, 2020
Wall piece mounted in a glazed frame.
34.75”H x 34.75”W x 4.75”D
(detail below)

Isobel Egan is an artist living and working in county Kildare, Ireland.

Isobel graduated in 2005 with a Masters of Arts, Design, Ceramics from the National College of Art and Design, Dublin.

She has received numerous awards for her work including the Taylor Art Award from the Royal Dublin Society in 1999, the Golden Fleece Award (merit) in 2006 and the Visual Art Bursary Award, from Kildare County Council in 2014.

Isobel represented Ireland at the European Ceramics Context in Bornholm, Denmark 2006 and 2018.

Her work is in several permanent collections including the National Museum of Ireland, Dublin and the Taipei County Yingge Ceramics Museum, Taiwan.

Posted: April 4, 2025