Brian Teeling: ‘Everything is political, and it’s constantly in a state of collision with the personal’
Irish artist Brian Teeling talks artistic inspiration, music as an integral part of the creative process, and the convergence of the personal with the political.
Brian Teeling is an Irish artist whose practice explores queer identity, memory, and absence through photography, sculpture, and text-based works. His work engages with themes of loss, trauma, and spectral presence, drawing on concepts of hauntology and speculative history to interrogate the traces left behind by queer lives and histories.
Teeling’s practice resists traditional representation, using material instability, layered imagery, and immersive installations to explore the intersections of personal and collective memory. His work has been exhibited in major institutions, including the Irish Museum of Modern Art, the National Gallery of Ireland, and the Crawford Art Gallery.
Was a career as an artist something you always aspired to?
No, when I was younger, I wanted to be a mechanic like my Dad or a football player like Eric Cantona. They were my heroes growing up. As a teenager, I wanted to be a fashion designer or a musician. I even did a year of Fashion & Textiles at Coláiste Dhúlaigh in my early twenties. I worked my way up in fashion until I set up my own store, Nowhere, on Aungier Street, where I started taking photos, which led me to become an artist.
What is your process when creating a new work?
I don’t have a tried-and-tested process for making work. Usually, I start with an image or a photo I’ve taken and work from there. Currently, I’m working without a studio, which is challenging. There’s less room for experimentation; you have to do all of that in your head.
Music always has to be on. When I was making the work for in the glow of a frozen flame, a book I made with Jennie Taylor for the Crawford Gallery in Cork in 2024, I’d listen to If You’re Into It, I’m Out of It by Christoph de Babalon on repeat. The same goes for HTRK’s Psychic 9-5 Club, which heavily influenced my book Wet Dream.
The personal and political converge in your work, as they do in life. Do you believe that art is inherently political?
Everything is political, and it’s constantly in a state of collision with the personal. Our realities—emotions, relationships, memories—are never isolated from the political environment, and art is no different.
In terms of my own life, I have a voice but don’t always use it, and I feel guilty about that. I want to speak out more about housing, Palestine, trans rights, and Direct Provision. I greatly admire those unbowed and steadfast activists fighting for change—people like Jenny Maguire, Rory Rowan, and Adam Shanley, as well as unions like CATU and PRAXIS.
wing mirror (blunt, pain at the receptor) - exhibited at Garter Lane Arts, Waterford City
this is not a dream, 2025 - Photograph on Mirror, exhibited as part of Me and You in The Continuum (Now-Zero) at New Art Projects, London
Tell us about the exhibition ghn30—Out of the Strong, Came Forth Sweetness, which you curated to mark the Gay Health Network’s 30th anniversary.
The exhibition, which took place from May 12 to 26, 2025, featured more than 25 Irish artists living and working in Ireland, as well as a selection of materials from public and private archives. It was to celebrate 30 years of the Gay Health Network and their incredible work for our community.
I’m not a curator, so jumping into a show with that many artists was quite the challenge, but I really enjoyed it. It was great to work with such a brilliant team of people, especially Aisling Clark and Jack O’Dea. Working with the venue, however, was incredibly tricky. You can see why nothing has happened at the former Science Gallery in quite a while.
As that closed, I opened another show, Me and You in The Continuum (Now: Zero), in London with Dorje de Burgh at New Art Projects in Angel. It’s a double-narrative show in which we exhibit our work in pairs. We’ve used Philip K. Dick’s The Man in The High Castle as a source of intrigue for this exhibition and worked with Sam Moore and Una Mullally on the texts for the publication. It’s on until July 12.
As an artist with no fine art qualifications, what would you say to a budding artist unsure of their next steps?
- Document your work properly
- Get help with funding applications and then learn how to write them yourself
- Go to exhibitions, go to private views, talk to other artists
- Write to curators whose research aligns with your work and ask them for a studio visit
- Get a job (seriously)
- Don’t apply for something you are not interested in
- If you’re not selected for an exhibition (through open call, invitation, etc), don’t take it personally
- Never turn down a challenge
- Don’t waste your time with ‘speed-curating’ or ‘group crits’
- Reach out to more established artists for advice on any of the above (I’m happy to do this for anyone)
Brian Teeling’s life in culture
The last thing I saw and loved… A large hairy man on the Tube. Also, the YMC Baker Cardigan in Green at Scout on Essex Street.
The book I keep coming back to… Crash, by J.G. Ballard
I find inspiration in… My friends and family. My Ma, especially. She’s 82 and very sharp.
My favourite film is… Happy Together, directed by Wong Kar Wai.
My career highlight is… Exhibiting and being commissioned as part of A Vague Anxiety in 2019 at IMMA.
The song I listen to to get in the zone is… Anything by HTRK.
The last (book/film/show/piece of work/artist etc.) I recommended is… Book: Open, Heaven, by Seán Hewitt. Film: Beau Travail, Claire Denis. TV: Battlestar Galactica (2004). Album: Gross Net Means Gross Net, by Gross Net. Artist: Dorje de Burgh. Gig: Anything that Foggy Notions puts on, recently, Gang of Four at The Button Factory.
I never leave the house without… My black Porter-Yoshida crossbody bag. It’s over 10 years old and is from my old shop, Nowhere. It owes me nothing.
The film/performance/piece of work etc. I still think about is… Night Dances by Emma Martin/United Fall. Everything about it, from the costumes, the set, the sound, the cast, the horse!
The best advice I’ve ever gotten… One of my best friends, Ali Sweeney, told me never to shy away from a challenge. That advice has always stuck with me,
The art (book/film/performance/show etc.) that means the most to me is… HTRK – Psychic 9-5 Club. It’s my favourite record of all time. Also, Crash by J.G. Ballard.
The most challenging thing about being an artist is… Money. A €20k Bursary from the Arts Council in 2025 isn’t the same as one from 2015.
If I wasn’t an artist, I would be… Still trying to figure out what to do with my life.
Portrait imagery by Malcolm McGettigan.
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