Biography

Exhibitions

Selected Exhibitions

2008
Realisations, American Irish Historical Society, New York, USA
2009
Pavilion of Art & Design, UK (’10, ’16, ’17)

Grassimesse, Grassimuseum, Leipzig, Germany

Design Miami, Basel, Switzerland (’11, ’16, ’17, ’19, ’21, ’22)
2010
MATERIALpoetry, American Irish Historical Society, New York, USA

Irish Craft Portfolio 2010, National Design & Craft Gallery, Kilkenny, Ireland

Design Miami, Miami, USA (’16, ’17, ’19, ’20, ’24)
2011
Nilufar, Salone, Milan, Italy

Black & White, Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin, Ireland

ENIGNUM and other stories, Oliver Sears Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
2012
Wallpaper Handmade at Palazzo Brioni, Milan, Italy

Design Days Dubai, Nilufar Gallery, Dubai, UAE
2013
Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art and Craft, Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
2014
Cheongju International Craft Biennale, South Korea

Against the Grain: Wood in Contemporary Art and Craft, Museum of Art and Design, New York, USA

Solo Exhibition, The Roche Court Educational Trust, New Art Centre, UK

Collective 2, Skylight at Moynihan Station, New York, USA

Lilium, Oliver Sears Gallery, London
2015
Make Yourself Comfortable at Chatsworth, UK
2016
Masterworks, Long House Reserve, East Hampton, New York, USA

Royal Academy Summer Exhibition, London, UK
2017
Reveal, The American Irish Historical Society (AIHS), New York, USA

Making / Breaking, Cooper Hewitt Museum, New York, USA

Joseph Walsh’s Japan Debut at the Tsubaki Grand Shrine, Mie, Japan
2018
RINN – an exhibition by Joseph Walsh, Sogetsu Hall, Tokyo, Japan

Earth Wind Fire, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Ireland
2019
Design Miami, Basel, Switzerland

West Bund Art and Design, Shanghai, China (’20, ’22, ’23, ’24, ’25)

Design Miami, Miami, USA (’20)
2020
Centre Pompidou × West Bund, Shanghai, China
2021
Design Miami / Basel, Switzerland

Design Miami / Podium x Shanghai, China

ART 021 Shanghai Contemporary Art Fair, China
2022
TEFAF Maastricht, Maastricht, the Netherlands (’23, ’24, ’25, ’26)

Solo Exhibition, Joseph Walsh, Gestures, London 2022,

Sotheby’s, London, UK

West Bund Art & Design, Shanghai, China (’23, ’24)
2023
Art SG, Singapore (’24, ’25, ’26)

Solo Exhibition, Joseph Walsh, Paris, XXIII, France

Mirror Mirror: Reflections on Design at Chatsworth, Chatsworth House, Chatsworth, UK
2024
Joseph Walsh & Sara Flynn: Contexte et Collaboration, Centre Culturel Irlandais, Paris, France

The Armory Show, New York, USA

FAB Paris, France (’25)
2025
Iris van Herpen: Sculpting the Senses ArtScience Museum, Singapore

Kunstkammer, Lismore Castle Arts, Lismore, County Waterford, Ireland

Osaka Expo, Ireland Pavilion, Osaka, Japan

RINN: An Ireland–Japan dialogue on making, place and time, Embassy of Ireland, Ireland House, Tokyo

Quadrumvirate — Joseph Walsh x Kan Yasuda x Sueharu Fukami x Sean Scully, A Lighthouse called Kanata, Tokyo

Expo Chicago, Chicago, USA

The Treasure House Fair, London, UK

RINN / 輪 Ireland and Japan: a dialogue on making, place and time, The Glucksman Gallery, County Cork, Ireland

Frieze Seoul, Seoul, Korea

OPENING CEREMONY II, A Lighthouse called Kanata, Japan
2026
Magnus RINN, Chion-in Temple, Kyoto, Japan

Zona Maco, Mexico

Awards

2017　Cultural Award, The American Irish Historical Society, New York, USA
2017　Award of the Commissioning of Magnus Modus, on the reopening of the National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin
2020　Jack Lenor Larsen Award, Winter Benefit, LongHouse Reserve, Hearst Tower, New York
2025　Award of the making of Magnus RINN for the Ireland Pavilion on the occasion of Expo Osaka 2025, Japan

Public Collections

The Metropolitan Museum of Art, USA
Centre de Pompidou, France
National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland
Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, USA
The Devonshire Collection, Chatsworth House, UK
Embassy of Japan, Ireland
National Museum of Ireland – Decorative Arts & History Collection, Ireland
Mint Museum of Craft & Design, Charlotte, USA
Museum of Arts and Design, New York, USA
Tsubaki Grand Shrine, Japan
The Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland
Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, France
Sacred Heart Church, Cork, Ireland
DaLisca Family Church, Verona, Italy
Embassy of Ireland, Japan
Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai, China
Chapel of St. Ignatius, Gayle and Tom Benson Jesuit Center, Loyola University, New Orleans, USA

Joseph Walsh Joseph
Walsh Joseph
Walsh

Enignum Canopy Bed VI (2014)

H200 x L280 x W230 (cm)

Joseph
Walsh

Profile

1979 Born in Cork, Ireland
1999 Founds studio in Cork, Ireland

01 Exhibitions More
02 Awards More
03 Public Collections More

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About
the ArtistAbout
the Artist

One can hear the flowing of water and the rustling of wind in the sleek silhouettes of Joseph Walsh (b. 1979 –), an artist who captures not only the natural beauty of Ireland in his epic works made from wood or stone, but the movements that flow within. Walsh’s works in furniture are as if dreams have melted into place, finding form in shapes unseen and beyond imagination, his curves and lines at once seductive yet simultaneously, serene. However, it is not simply imagination that Walsh transcends, but the very conception of functionality within form. Where does function end and free form begin? Can revolutionary form and the comforts in functionality coalesce in a state of peaceful coexistence? The answer is an unequivocal yes. Walsh’s curvatures are the symbiosis of unforeseen vision, the highest levels of innovative craftsmanship that is coupled with true knowledge of his material, and at the same time, finding within the sheer determination to make such visions into reality.

With works in the collections of leading museums such as the Metropolitan Museum in NYC, the Centre Pompidou, the Museum of Art and Design (NY), and the National Museum of Ireland, Walsh has defined and transcended the limits of his material, and have put to the test the notion that the categories of furniture and sculpture are separate and distinct entities. Instead, his works blur the lines between furniture and fine art, essentially proving testament to the notion that such definitions are essentially meaningless in the case of masterful works of art that stand the tests of time.