You Ok? Yeah, I’m Ok
included in Present group exhibition
Beautiful Materials Gallery, Newton Mearns
13th December 2025 – 31st January 2026
You Ok? Yeah, I’m Ok 2025
Inkjet print, wire, paper, cardboard, metallic card
A6 sized
Warm Colours Mobile
Included in Showroom : December Open group exhibition
No. 31 Gallery, Duns
6th – 20th December 2025
Warm Colours Mobile 2025
Paper, aluminium, wire, nylon
60 x 60 x 60 cm
DIT (do-it-together)
Solo exhibition at Mote 102, Edinburgh
15th – 24th August 2025
Narratives and Relationships
I live on my own. I have children who have left home but they are close; and I have a dog who lives with me, so I’m not totallyalone. I’ve studied design, installed exhibitions, written essays, researched and curated projects, played the drums (still do), conducted seminars with art students, handled artworks, moved house, cooked the tea, cut the grass, and made lots of things.
In life, I like to do DIY (do it yourself) but I enjoy it more when I DIT (do it together). Life being work, play and being with others. These others can be lovers, friends, family or just people you’ve met. Sharing life’s tasks make for a more joyous personal feeling and outcome… mostly.
My work draws from, and visualises, particular relationships, narratives and contexts from my life and background. There is a through-line of some sort of self-portraiture. But it also contains common feelings and experiences, and can be described as three identifiable, interconnecting areas.
Some Names and Narratives
Text/image posters visualise and explore my experiences in the art world through reference points in art, design, cultural and social contexts.
My Heart on Your Sleeve
Text banner installation, made with wood, acrylic on paper, and domestic cotton fabrics from IKEA and John Lewis, express feelings that we have—our needs, wants, desires; but they can also be contradictory about how we take care of each other and things.
Ikea Noir/Goth/Duchamp/Hamilton/Memphis mash-up
The illustrative text and mobile work is based on my interest with the everyday, personal relationships, art and design history, and product design crossovers. I am intrigued by IKEA as a place and activity which offers us products, which we then load with feelings and relationships when we might DIT (do it together).
It is important to me that there is always a layer(s) of context to my work. I am particularly interested in producing work which imbeds this: reference points to be thrown out; names, links, expressionsto be found; an audience to be engaged with. My creative root is in design, and I have developed my research and writing processes throughout my career by improvising and problem-solving things.
These works have been developed and produced over recent years, mostly made in a shared Outer Spaces (outerspaces.org) studio space. My space has been key to the scale and production of the work. My first space was small, office-like, the work made at a table and a whiteboard. My second is much larger, open-plan, with a view of the docks, so I am able to make bigger work, making sure it is designed to fit into my car.
Iain Irving
August 2025
(text from exhibition booklet)
Peace, Love + Happiness vs.
Chaos, Hate + Misery
Included in A New Primer : What in the World group exhibition
St Margaret’s House, Edinburgh
12th – 19th October 2024
Peace, Love + Happiness vs. Chaos, Hate + Misery
Paper, wood, and essay
200 x 200 x 180cm
Iain Irving 