CAG.3129 Rita Duffy, The Emperor Has No Clothes, 2020, graphite on paper (series of 10), 29.7 x 21 cm. Purchased, 2021. © the artist.

WORK OF THE WEEK!

The Emperor Has No Clothes (2020) is a series of ten satirical drawings by Rita Duffy.

Created during the early days of lockdown and the COVID-19 pandemic, the drawings are the artist’s response to round the clock reporting on former US President Donald Trump and ‘the experience of America’s psychosis dancing naked on TV.’

At the centre of one drawing (pictured), the eponymous 'emperor' – giant and sphinx-like – is borne aloft on a litter or bed carried on the shoulders of dozens of smaller, visibly struggling figures. A pig’s head on a long stick is perhaps an allusion to William Golding’s Lord of the Flies (1954), representing the darkness that resides within everyone. Images of a cheese grater (Make America ‘grate’ Again), oil derrick, Adolf Hitler saluting, firearms, and Confederate flag complete the tumultuous, chaotic composition.

In its fraught imagery, this series of drawings seem to anticipate scenes from the United States Capitol Building on 6 January 2021. They also form the beginning of a new body of work by the artist which has, thus far, resulting in three largescale paintings – Epiphany, Belfast to Byzantium, and Ornithopter – all of which are featured in her new exhibition, PERSISTENT ILLUSION.

Rita Duffy (b.1959) is a member of Aosdána and one of the major contemporary artists to emerge from Northern Ireland. Encompassing themes and images of Irish identity, history, and politics, her work is often both personal and autobiographical, while she also pays homage to the language of magic realism.

The Emperor Has No Clothes (2020) by Rita Duffy is featured in PERSISTENT ILLUSION until 8 October.

Free entry | Open daily

The Arts House: Conor Tallon chats with curator Michael Waldron about a work from the Collection every Sunday morning on Cork’s 96FM and C103 Cork. You can listen back to this week’s chat here:

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