Paul Rooney (born 1967 in Liverpool) is an English artist who works with music and words, primarily through installations and records.[1]

Paul Rooney
Born1967 (age 56–57)
Alma mater
OccupationArtist
Notable workLucy Over Lancashire
AwardsNorthern Art Prize (2008)
Websitewww.paulrooney.info

He studied painting at Edinburgh College of Art.[2] In the late 1990s his art practice shifted from painting to video and music, initially with the artist group Common Culture and then the band Rooney.[3][4] His work later focussed on sound and music within video works, installations and performances.[5][6][1]

His art works often explore the difficulties inherent in the representation of place, mixing unreliable narratives of personal experience and urban myth.[7][4]

Awards include an Abbey Award in Painting at The British School at Rome in 1995,[2] Art Prize North in 2003,[8] [9] the Northern Art Prize in 2008,[10] and the Morton Award for Lens Based Work (2012).[11] His works have been purchased for the Arts Council Collection[12] and through the Contemporary Art Society Acquisitions Scheme.[13]

Work edit

The three CD music albums released from 1998 to 2000 under the band name Rooney (not the later US band of the same name)[4] [3] were broadcast by BBC Radio 1 (John Peel Show) amongst others,[14] and the track Went to Town reached number 44 in John Peel's Festive Fifty of 1998.[15][16] Rooney became a live band in time to record a Peel session in 1999.

Paul Rooney continued to perform or work with other musicians in the early 2000s, such as The NWRA House Band, touring a 'variety night'[17] and a 'rock opera' amongst other performance projects.[18] His gallery works — now primarily sound and music based installations but also including video and writing — developed through commissions for organisations such as Sound and Music[19] and Film and Video Umbrella,[20] and through a period of residencies and fellowships at institutions including Durham University;[2] University of Dundee;[21] Tate Liverpool;[5] Proyecto Batiscafo, Havana;[22][23] Oxford University;[24] University of Melbourne;[24] and University of Wolverhampton.[5]

Electric Earth: Film and Video from Britain, a British Council exhibition which toured internationally from 2003, included early music/video work by Rooney.[25] In 2004 he curated Pass the Time of Day, a UK touring exhibition dealing with the relationship between music and 'the everyday'. Pass the Time of Day included works by Arab Strap, Rodney Graham and Susan Philipsz amongst others.[26][27][16] The following year Rooney's work was selected for the survey show British Art Show 6,[28] which toured the UK in 2005–2006. Rooney had solo shows at venues such as Site Gallery, Sheffield (a two-person show with Susan Philipsz, 2003);[29] and Matt's Gallery, London (2008).[30][31]

He returned to releasing records in 2007 with the red vinyl 12" Lucy Over Lancashire, on SueMi Records of Berlin.[16] Released under his full name of 'Paul Rooney', it was specifically made for broadcast on BBC Radio Lancashire,[32] but BBC Radio 1[33] and BBC 6 Music[34] were amongst the other stations who broadcast the piece.[35][36]

In 2012 Rooney had a solo show in the Liverpool Biennial official programme,[37] and also that year Dust and Other Stories, a collection of short fiction published by Akerman Daly/Aye-Aye Books, was published.[38] The Rooney Peel session was repeated in 2016 on Gideon Coe's BBC 6 Music show,[39] and in 2017 Rooney's first album for seventeen years, Futile Exorcise, was released on Owd Scrat Records on transparent vinyl.[40] The album was on Stewart Lee's list of best records of 2017[41] and a track from it, Lost High Street, reached number 1 on the 2017 Festive Fifty (now compiled by Dandelion Radio).[42] Along with further record releases[43][44] he also began to create sited sound installations in historic locations such as Ripon Courthouse (2019)[45] and Lindisfarne Castle (2022-2023).[46][47]

References edit

  1. ^ a b "Paul Rooney: Still at Large – The Maltings". www.maltingsberwick.co.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  2. ^ a b c "Rooney, Paul, b.1967 | Art UK". artuk.org. Retrieved 24 March 2023.
  3. ^ a b Bracewell, Michael (6 June 1999). "Common Culture". Frieze. No. 47. ISSN 0962-0672. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  4. ^ a b c Cowley, Julian (January 2010). "Cross Platform: Paul Rooney". The Wire Magazine: 20.
  5. ^ a b c MIRIAD. "Participants, CAA Workshop". CAA Workshop.
  6. ^ Clark, Robert; Clark, By Robert (16 March 1999). "Common Culture". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  7. ^ "Exhibitions preview". The Guardian. 13 June 2008. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  8. ^ BBC News (8 October 2003). "Video art beats Lego to prize" – via BBC.
  9. ^ News desk, Manchester Evening News (11 August 2004). "Art prize winner announced". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  10. ^ Art in Liverpool. "Paul Rooney Wins Northern Art Prize". Art in Liverpool.
  11. ^ "RSA Morton Award". Royal Scottish Academy. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  12. ^ "Small Talk | Arts Council Collection". www.artscouncilcollection.org.uk.
  13. ^ CAS. "Paul Rooney, Victoria Art Gallery". CAS.
  14. ^ NTS. "Paul Rooney". NTS.
  15. ^ BBC Radio 1. "Keeping It Peel, Festive Fifty 1998". BBC Radio 1, Keeping It Peel.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  16. ^ a b c "Paul Rooney – Lucy Over Lancashire (SueMi)". coffeetablenotes.blogspot.com. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  17. ^ Cubitt Gallery (June 2001). "Saturday: Polly Staple". Cubitt.
  18. ^ "Grizedale Arts: Artists & Contributors: Rooney". www.grizedale.org.
  19. ^ "Expo Leeds – Media and Arts Partnership". Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  20. ^ Fim and Video Umbrella. "Projects: Bellevue". FVU.
  21. ^ University of Dundee. "University of Dundee Press Release". University of Dundee.
  22. ^ "Agosto 2003". Proyecto Batiscafo. 7 August 2003. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  23. ^ "Triangle Network | Triangle Network". www.trianglenetwork.org. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  24. ^ a b "The Ruskin School of Art - Arts Council England Oxford Melbourne Fellowship". www.rsa.ox.ac.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  25. ^ British Council. "Electric Earth". British Council.
  26. ^ Lewis, Emma. "Pass the Time of Day". Leftlion.
  27. ^ Barrett, David. ‘Pass the Time of Day’. Art Monthly. March 2005
  28. ^ Arnolfini Gallery (2005). "British Art Show 6". Arnolfini.
  29. ^ Site Gallery. "Susan Philipsz and Paul Rooney". Site Gallery.
  30. ^ "Matt's Gallery – La Décision Doypack". www.mattsgallery.org. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  31. ^ Milliard, Coline. ‘Paul Rooney, Matt’s Gallery’. Modern Painters. July/August. 2008
  32. ^ "On The Wire, 01/12/2013". BBC Radio Lancashire. 13 April 2021. Retrieved 17 April 2021.
  33. ^ BBC Radio 1. "Huw Stephens - Tracklisting". BBC.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  34. ^ BBC 6 Music. "Marc Riley 28/5/2014". BBC Programmes.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  35. ^ "Dandelion Radio - 2007 Festive 50". dandelionradio.com.
  36. ^ Manchester, Guy (25 October 2012). "Quick Fire John Peel Related Questions To Dandelion Radio DJ's".
  37. ^ Liverpool Biennial. "Paul Rooney". Liverpool Biennial.
  38. ^ Hebblethwaite, David (23 October 2012). "'The treachery of stories and words' – Dust and Other Stories by Paul Rooney". Bookmunch.
  39. ^ BBC 6 Music. "Gideon Coe track listing 20/4/2016". BBC.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  40. ^ The Wire online. "Multimedia artist Paul Rooney releases new album - The Wire". The Wire Magazine - Adventures In Modern Music.
  41. ^ Lee, Stewart. "FROM THE METRO-LIB-ELITE DESK OF Stewart Lee Jan 18 : Stewart Lee - 41st Best Standup Ever!". www.stewartlee.co.uk.
  42. ^ "Dandelion Radio - 2017 Festive 50". www.dandelionradio.com.
  43. ^ "Spoilt Victorian Child – The Sound Projector". www.thesoundprojector.com. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  44. ^ Rebel, The Jukebox (29 November 2019). "Alain Chamois – Let Me Take You There". the last great record. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  45. ^ "Paul Rooney at Ripon Courthouse Museum • Arts&Heritage". Arts&Heritage. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  46. ^ "Paul Rooney at Lindisfarne Castle • Arts&Heritage". Arts&Heritage. Retrieved 21 March 2023.
  47. ^ "Song (After Nature) by Paul Rooney (Lindisfarne Castle)". www.churchtimes.co.uk. Retrieved 21 March 2023.

External links edit