Sam Keogh

Sam Keogh's body of works includes installations, sculptures, performances, drawings, and collages.

Biography of Sam Keogh

Sam Keogh was born in 1985 in Ashford, Co. Wicklow, Ireland. He pursued his education in the arts, earning a BA in Animation Production and Design from IADT Dun Laoghaire in Dublin in 2006. He later completed a BA in Fine Art Painting from NCAD, Dublin in 2009, followed by an MFA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, London in 2014.

In 2006, he received the 2nd prize for Best First Animated Short at the Galway Film Fleadh and The Claire Lynch Award (1st prize) Best First Irish Short at the International Cork Film Festival. 

In 2016, Sam Keogh was shortlisted to represent Ireland at the Venice Biennale 2017. Two years later, in 2018, he participated in the 1646 Project Space artist residency in The Hague. 

Keogh's solo exhibitions include "The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle Cartoon" at Guts Gallery in Berlin (2023), "The Unicorn is Killed and Brought to the Castle Cartoon" at Primary in Nottingham (2023), "The Unicorn Surrenders To A Maiden Cartoon" at PLAZA PLAZA in London (2023), "Sated Soldier, Sated Peasant, Sated Scribe" at Kerlin Gallery in Dublin (2022), and many more.

Additionally, Keogh's have been featured in numerous group shows held at various galleries and museums worldwide, including Kerlin Gallery in Dublin, Museo Madre in Naples, Pompidou Centre in Paris, Flat Time House in London, Lismore Castle Arts in Lismore, Castlefield Gallery in Manchester, among other esteemed venues. 

Currently, the artist lives and works between Glasgow and Co. Wicklow.

Sam Keogh's Art Style

Sam Keogh's artistic practice encompasses installation, sculpture, performance, drawing, and collage. His live performances are set within intricate environments crafted from a wide array of materials including collages, painted panels, plastic skeletons, ceramics, and everyday items like computer desks, discarded apple cores, plants, and bits of rubbish. These eclectic and often grotesque assemblages serve as both props and visual cues for his performances, which are rich with idiosyncratic details and extraneous information.

Keogh's installations create a fictional world where materials, memories, and emotions merge. His performances feature semi-fictional monologues that explore and connect diverse topics such as political movements, biological processes, archaeology, housing, science fiction, and pop culture.