Hapaska presents a newly commissioned sculptural body of work which uses the figure of the lion to explore current crises, from the failures of democracy to ongoing conflict and wars, and the ever-present Climate crisis. Reflecting ideas of shifting power and loss, at the centre of the exhibition is a large-scale lion which extends to over four metres and is fractured in form. A universal and persistent symbol of power, the lion has prolonged associations of justice, strength, courage and military might. Here at The Douglas Hyde, Hapaska’s lion will be suspended at the centre of the cavernous, double-height space of Gallery 1, tethered to the gallery’s walls. With its paw extended, in the tradition of the Albani and Medici Lions,[1] the held sphere (reflecting world domination) will be displaced. Incorporating ambient sound captured at Westminster Abbey while Queen Elizabeth II lay in State, Hapaska employs the emotional resonance of this sonic element as an expanded sculptural layer to the work.

Throughout her career, Hapaska has expanded the formal boundaries of sculptural practice. Employing a wide range of disparate materials – including concrete, cloth, fur, plant material and mechanics – through unusual and incongruous combinations, she looks to the emotional charge of materials and form. The artist states, “I like ideas that are adrift”; preferring to suggest rather than dictate an audience’s interaction with her work.

Though they carry a sense of disquiet, Hapaska’s works are always a testament to the perseverance of hope, desire and longing in the face of adverse global conditions and political or spiritual unrest. Her sculptures are often undershot with a dark wit, a playfulness, and a devotion to physical objects as transmitters of empathy and emotion. As critic Helen Sumpter has written, “the ability of Hapaska’s work to insert itself into the consciousness on so many levels, and that in any climate of uncertainty, work that can engage the eyes, the emotions and the intellect is more vital than ever.”[2]

[1] Medici lions refers to a pair of marble sculptures of lions who majestically sat guarding the steps to the Villa Medici in Rome in the late sixteenth century. One dates to the second century CE and the other was commissioned as its pendant by Ferdinando I de’ Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany. Their copies can be found in France, Sweden, Britain, Russia, Ukraine, Italy, Germany, Cuba, the United States, Estonia, Lithuania, France, and Hungary.

[2] Helen Sumpter, “Siobhán Hapaska “, Art Review, October 2016, p.80.

Siobhán Hapaska (born Belfast, Northern Ireland) lives and works in London and Rotterdam. Recent projects include a solo exhibition at Kunstmuseum St Gallen, Switzerland, and a permanent installation at Chateau Lacoste, France (both 2020), solo exhibitions at John Hansard Gallery, University of Southampton, UK, (2019), Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam (2015), and Magasin III Stockholm Konsthall (2013-2014). Her work has also been shown in numerous group exhibitions including Trickster Figures: Sculpture and the Body, MK Gallery, UK (2023), Ghosts from the Recent Past, IMMA (2021), Disobedient Bodies: J.W. Anderson at The Hepworth Wakefield, UK, (2017), Forecast of the Next Century, Eli and Edythe Broad Art Museum, Michigan State University (2017), the Azerbaijan Pavilion, 56th Venice Biennale, Astralis at Espace Louis Vuitton, Paris (2014). In 1997 Hapaska participated in Documenta X and she represented Ireland at the Venice Biennale with Grace Weir in 2001.

Image: Siobhán Hapaska, Medici Lion (installation view), 2023. Courtesy of the artist and Kerlin Gallery, Dublin. Photography by Senija Topcic

Medici Lion is commissioned by The Douglas Hyde Gallery of Contemporary Art and supported by The Henry Moore Foundation.

With special thanks to the Kerlin Gallery, Dublin, for their support.