From 24 October until 5 November, IMMA is celebrating the successful first year of the IMMA Collection: Freud Project with a fortnight of FREE admission to all. Lucian Freud is one of the most celebrated masters of figurative and portrait painting of the 20th Century, painting only from life, and as part of these first anniversary celebrations IMMA is hosting free life drawing classes with Irish artist Fergus Byrne.

Presented within the series of live activations for the current exhibition noon, the class will incorporate a series of short and long poses over the course of two hours. The stage/seating area commissioned for noon will provide alternative perspectives for the class as it delivers various levels for the model to work at.

Byrne is one of 31 artists who were asked to write a response to the work of Lucian Freud for the inaugural Freud Project book; Lucien Freud, IMMA Collection Freud Project, 2016 – 2021 where he comments on how Freud has influenced his own practice as a contemporary artist working today:

“Freud has informed my work through oblique and direct reference to him. There is much within the dynamic between artist and sitter that can be considered from the perspective of performance. His desire for the sitter to be present even while he painted surroundings underscored the importance of energetic exchange to his process.

Sometimes after excessive consumption of his work I am astonished at how little imagination he had; or to put it differently how, through binding himself to all that revealed itself over time, no invention from his mind was necessary.

His people are ground into the sediment of paint and time. I find that there is much physicality to the works that in drawing them it can come close to studying from the living figure. This would suggest a living vitality but sometimes it seems at the cost of fleeting aspects of the spirit, that of the sitter, something akin to committing a person to a zoo for their humanity to be viewed”. – Fergus Byrne

These two life drawing classes are suitable for everyone from beginners to accomplished artists. Materials are provided or you can bring your own sketchbook. Please note that only dry materials are permitted in the space. Strictly no photography is permitted and all devices must be turned off for the duration of the class.

Participation operates on a first come first served basis with limited capacity, so arrive early to ensure a space. No entry will be permitted once the class commences and participants are encouraged to stay for the full two-hour duration of the workshop.

About the Artist
Fergus Byrne (b.1974, Dublin, Ireland) is a multidisciplinary artist working in performance, sculpture, drawing and event curation. Underlying much of the performance work is the practice of life modelling of which he has extensive experience. In performance he tests the materiality of his body, sometimes combining such action with spoken word. Through rigorous physical discipline he creates mesmerising performances. Byrne is an alumni of IMMA’s artist residency programme.