Curios About: Glass Ceiling by Adebayo Flynn

Glass Ceiling
By Adebayo Flynn
Oil pastels and acrylic oil, 24in x 18in

1. This work is about . . . I painted a strong woman not ashamed of her body writhing to get off a red-hot floor with competition in an effort to break through the glass ceiling under which she is contained. Her face has no detail as she is every woman and the yellow surrounding her head describes a bright woman.

2. I made this work because . . . I’ve read much about inequality in pay terms and prejudice towards females in modern society. I am aware of it through first-hand experience too, but I wanted to paint my interpretation of how I see it as if it’s not something I had seen.

3. I hope when people see this work they will . . . I wanted the image to make the viewer somewhat uncomfortable. To go and think beyond society’s sexualised use of women for advertising and encouraging the audience to merely consume their products. Hopefully the audience will fill in the reasons why I made it so raw and brash.

4. In terms of art history, this work . . . I really don’t know. I have no formal education nor do I care to pursue any. I paint what I want so I would be lying if I told you it was in some way comparable or connected to historic work.

5. You can see my work . . . I have just ended my solo exhibition, which ran in the Copper House Gallery in May and June. I am a collaborator with herstory.ie, my website is www.AdebayoFlynn.com, and my Instagram account is AdebayoFlynnArt.

Curios About is a series featuring works by Dublin artists, curated for us by our friends at the Square in the Circle blog, and hosted there as well as here.

Each artist is asked to submit an image of one work and answer a set of questions about it. We’d love it if you’d submit something you’ve made.