In the final episode of this series of A brush with..., Ben Luke talks to Megan Rooney about her greatest influences—including other artists, writers and musicians—and the cultural experiences that have shaped her life and work.
Megan Rooney's Untitled (from the series Old Baggy Root) (2021). Photo: Eva Herzog © The artist. Courtesy Thaddaeus Ropac gallery, London, Paris, Salzburg, Seoul
Rooney was born in 1985 in South Africa, but grew up in Brazil and then in Canada, before studying in London. She works in performance, sculpture and painting and has gained particular attention recently for the vast murals she has made in several international museums.
Performance view of Megan Rooney: EVERYWHERE BEEN THERE. Presented as part of the exhibition Megan Rooney: Fire On The Mountain, 18 May–11 August 2019, at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf. Photo: Katja Illner.© The artist. Courtesy of Kunsthalle Düsseldorf.
Among much else, she discusses the transformative experience of seeing Henry Moore at the National Gallery of Ontario; a life-changing moment seeing works made on the walls by women prisoners in the Carceri dell’Inquisizione, Palermo, Sicily; and about the writing of Maxine Kumin and Haruki Murakami.
Installation view of Megan Rooney: Fire On The Mountain, at Kunsthalle Düsseldorf, 18 May–11 August 2019. Photo: KatjaIllner. © The artist. Courtesy of Kunsthalle Düsseldorf
Plus, Rooney answers our regular questions, including those about the pictures on her studio wall, her daily working rituals and the artwork she would choose to live with, as well as the ultimate one: what is art for?
Installation view of Megan Rooney's With Sun (2022), at Fondation Louis Vuitton. Photo: Lewis Fleury. Courtesy of Thaddaeus Ropac Gallery, London, Paris, Salzburg, Seoul
• Fugues in Colour, Fondation Louis Vuitton, Paris, until 29 August; Saturation, Thaddaeus Ropac, Pantin, Paris, until 24 September; Rooney will have a solo exhibition at Thaddaeus Ropac, Paris, in early 2023.
• The next series of A brush with..., will run from 3-24 August, with episodes released on Wednesdays. You can download and subscribe to the podcast here. This podcast is sponsored by Bloomberg Connects.