“In his photos stillness is literal; in his performances it is relative. Both show the same fierce condensation of feeling.”
Janet Koplos, Art In America
Nigel Rolfe is recognised as a seminal figure in performance art, in its history and among current world practitioners.
He has lectured at the Royal College of Art since 1982. He is a
senior visiting critic to postgraduate courses in the USA and Europe.
He was visiting professor in Sculpture at Yale University and visiting
professor in Fine Art at the RCA.
He is elected to Aosdana in Ireland.
Born in the Isle of Wight in 1950, Nigel Rolfe lives and works in
Dublin, Ireland. He works with many media – video and photography and
sound – and for the past thirty years he has made performances
throughout Europe, the former Eastern Block, North and South America
and Japan.
Retrospectives of his work have been held at the Irish Museum of Modern
Art, Dublin, and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. He has
exhibited in the São Paulo, Busan and Kwang ju Biennales and shown work
in many Art Fairs. His work is represented by galleries in Dublin,
Paris and New York. In 2008 he made numerous one person and group
exhibitions. There are many articles and publications of his work.