Niamh Barry

"I spent seven years working at a major North American growth equity firm before I began painting seriously. I was sitting in board meetings, sourcing deals, and working alongside some of Silicon Valley's most prominent investors. It was an intense, competitive world that demanded total presence and left very little room for anything else. Its pressures, rituals, and particular kind of anonymity are where much of my work begins. I paint figures in oil on canvas, usually alone, usually mid-task. I'm interested in the moments where professional life and private life blur - where loneliness is always present, like background noise, but rarely acknowledged. I work slowly, building each painting in layers. I think a lot about what it means to be a professional in the modern sense and to always appear in control. My paintings attempt to interrupt that rhythm and hold the feeling still for a moment."