p r e s s : articles, reviews, etc
about artwork by Bridget Irish


< on-line >

"Sex Workers' Art Show: Cabaret with a Conscience"
by Chris Kaplan
The DoG Street Journal (The College of William and Mary) - Feb 13, 2007

e x c e r p t :
...the show got off to a raucous start with Bridget Irish, a film and
installation artist, who began with a hilarious dance routine to booming,
guitar-heavy music while (initially) wearing full army regalia.
She then proceeded to hand out potatoes to the audience, only to return
to the stage to strip just as the music made a fitting transition to
"America, Fuck Yeah!" from the movie Team America.

...Ms. Irish came back out to the audience to have the potatoes
deposited into her tights. Then, she finished with another uproarious
dance on stage, this time with potatoes-in-tow.

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"Sexual expression takes artistic forms"
by Meghan Young
The Daily Texan (University of Texas at Austin) - Feb 21, 2006

e x c e r p t :
Bridget Irish walked up to the stage in nothing but a black thong. She was
handed an envelope holding a watch, black-framed glasses and directions.
The "Mission Impossible" theme began to play, and she rushed around the
crowded room, collecting envelopes with different items of clothing: socks,
underwear, pants, a bra, boots, a shirt and gloves - all black. After she
had dressed herself, she ran out of the room.

Irish's performance was part of the Sex Workers Art Show, brought to the
University by the UT Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, Transgender, and Ally Affairs
Agency. There was standing room only in the Texas Union Showroom as
students and other Austinites gathered for an evening of burlesque, spoken
word, music and performance art.

* * * * *


from 2-channel video installation: Tug-A-War



"Whores are great! Sex Workers Art Show, UCLA"
by Violet Vixen
Vixen's blog : theater & performance art reviews - Feb 14, 2006

e x c e r p t :
The adorable Bridget Irish performed a wacky reverse striptease in which she emerged onstage naked
and in secret agent fashion she had to find articles of her clothing stashed all over the theater.
Despite the stripping of other performers,
there was something much more disconcerting about a naked lady running through the theater.
It felt like a real triumph and a relief when she managed to find and put on her bra!

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"Art in Tacoma's present links past with uncertain future"
by Jen Graves
The News Tribune (Tacoma WA) - Jan 2, 2005

e x c e r p t :
"Another video artist, Bridget Irish of Olympia, captured literal motion on a two-way ride
on Tacoma's Link in her portrait of urban transport playing at the Tollbooth Gallery.
(The very cool Tollbooth is a former TV Tacoma kiosk on the corner of 11th Street and
Broadway now transmitting contemporary art day and night.) Tacoma is gray and monklike
compared to the footage of busy trains in Chicago, New York and Boston. The camera shoves
into a joyful bouquet of yellow roses on Boston's T train. The sun outside animates webs
of thin scratches and fat dried raindrops on the train windows.

Meanwhile, the Link footage shakes. The city is fragile and mostly quiet, shyly introducing
its seductive historic buildings as the train glides by. It feels like an homage to something
only beginning to be understood."

video stills from: TOLLBOOTH JUNCTION 11TH & BROADWAY

< subway rides l-r: Chicago / Boston / New York City >

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"Strictly Uncensored: Good Intentions, Mixed Results at Olympia's Sex Workers' Art Show"
by Michelle Tea
The Stranger (Seattle WA) - Feb 20-26, 2003

e x c e r p t :
The last time I hit the Olympia festival, I caught one of the best acts ever:
performance artist Bridget Irish dashing into the audience butt-naked
and retrieving a hidden outfit, piece by piece, from envelopes duct-taped beneath our seats.
Manic spy music chased her up and down the aisles, and she was not shy about
clambering over those who happened to be between her and her next shred of clothing.

* * * * *



"Ladies, Please: Cavorting with the very latest punk feminists at Ladyfest DC 2002"
by Noy Thrupkaew
The American Prospect - Aug 9, 2002

e x c e r p t :
If you had wandered into Sanctuary Theater in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 8, you might have seen
a most unusual spin-off of patriotic imagery. As Jimi Hendrix's version of "The Star-Spangled
Banner" blared over the sound system, performance artist Bridget Irish and her crew, wearing
nothing but George W. Bush masks, covered their bums and crotches with red, white and blue paint.
Then they swooped, smeared and daubed themselves on a sheet of paper. After a few minutes
of Slip'n'Slide action, and a sprinkle of glitter for the stars, "A Flag for Bush" was done.

This was a heady sight for the straitlaced, patriotism-saturated capital. But even more
startling for this good ol' boys' town is the festival that brought "A Flag for Bush" to D.C.:
"Ladyfest DC 2002", a series of women's performances, workshops and exhibitions whose proceeds
go toward the nonprofit D.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence. Organized by women volunteers
(including, I should disclose, both TAP's assistant editor and communications manager),
Ladyfest DC will...

* * * * *



"Ladyfest lives on: Organizers around the world plan versions of the Olympia-bred festival"
by Ross Raihala
The Olympian - Feb 21, 2002

e x c e r p t s :

[opening]
Bridget Irish laughs when she remembers the weeks leading up to the original Ladyfest in Olympia.
"There were worries we had screwed up and we would owe people money," Irish says.
"But it was absolutely huge and went beyond all expectations."

[closing]
But don't expect to see another Ladyfest in Olympia any time soon.
"It was a full-time plus job to do it," says Irish. "And it was really a once-in-a-lifetime
sort of experience. Besides, I think it's more exciting to see what all these other people are doing."

* * * * *



"Operation Offensive: OUT on the Edge is queer to the core"
by Anne Marie Donahue
The Boston Phoenix - Aug 30-Sept 6, 2001

e x c e r p t :
Billed as a "queer punk circus of the apocalypse," the festival's opening show promises
some mind-blowing moments.
At one point in Dr. Frockrocket's Vivifying (Re-Animatronic) Menagerie and Medicine Show
(September 5 through 8), which is written and performed by nine queer women and a drag queen,
Bridget Irish (who was born on St. Patrick's Day) bares her Irish ass, dips it in green paint,
and stamps out oversized four-leaf clovers, all to the tune of "When Irish Eyes Are Smiling."
Later, she takes off all her clothes and urges playgoers to join her in a game of nude Twister.
"She never speaks, and she's almost naked,"
explains writer/performance artist and group spokesman Nomy Lamm...

* * * * *



< in print >

Toby Room : art, culture and life in the south sound - March 2005 (Tacoma WA)
Muffy Magazine - Winter 2001/02
The Boston Phoenix - August 30 - September 6, 2001 (see excerpt above)
Chicago Reader - August 17, 2001
Portland Mercury - June 2001


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moving image / performance / single frame




Bridget Irish
P.O. Box 2372
Olympia WA 98507
united states
bridget_irish@riseup.net



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LU Sept 2010