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Reveal by Joseph Walsh

A Joseph Walsh retrospective in New York shows how the functional sculpture designer from Ireland pushes organic forms and materials to the limits.

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Text by Nadine Botha
Photography by Andrew Bradley

A natural stone table patiently carved to reveal a seductive texture. Seemingly floating in space, its transparent resin legs drool from the moss-coloured marble. It is the table from Joseph Walsh’s Exilumen series, which celebrates how contrasts and juxtapositions accentuate our appreciation.

Showing at the American Irish Historical Society until May 24, Reveal is a retrospective of the Joseph Walsh Studio. Work on show includes private commissions and collectors’ work not shown before in public. These include a selection of the 24 freeform chairs made for Chatsworth House’s private dining room, a truly unique watch cabinet made for a father and son, and scale models and drawings of a recently completed 7 metre-high sculpture.

Based in Cork on Walsh’s family farm that dates back to the 18th century, the studio creates one-of-a-kind functional pieces with sculptural forms inspired by nature and organic forms. Collaborating with master craftsmen, both form and material are pushed to the limits to subvert perceptions of wood and stone, texture and form, light and weight.

Exilumen table
Exilumen table
Exilumen table
Exilumen table
Lilium II
Lilium II
Lilium low table
Lilium low table
Model making
Model making
Joseph Walsh making an Enignum chair
Joseph Walsh making an Enignum chair
Enignum VII chair
Enignum VII chair
Watch Cabinet
Watch Cabinet
Watch Cabinet
Watch Cabinet
Watch Cabinet
Watch Cabinet
Lilium screen
Lilium screen
Lilium screen
Lilium screen
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