Born in the Isle of Wight in 1950, Nigel Rolfe lives and works in Dublin, Ireland. He works with many media – video and photography and sound, and for the past thirty years he has made performances throughout Europe, and the former Eastern Block, North and South America and Japan.
Retrospectives of his work have been held at the Irish Museum of Modern Art and the Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris. In 2007 he has made performances at Bodily Functions 07, Granary Theatre, Cork, and in the International Festival in the Context of Art , in Warsaw, Poland. In 2006 he took part in the European Performance Art Festival in Warsaw, and a solo exhibition of photo works, video and a performance was shown at the West Cork Arts Centre. In 2008 there were one-person exhibitions of new video works in Paris at the Galerie Polaris and in Dublin at the Green On Red Gallery. He was included in the 2008 Bussan Biennale in S Korea.
He continues to work on numerous projects and exhibitions, both solo and in group exhibitions.
In February 2009 he made a keynote address at the Irish Museums conference in Derry exhibitions including Notes On A Return at the Laing Newcastle UK and performances in Lublin Poland and in London UK. In 2010 He is working on Projects for the Bogside in Derry in 2011and in Lough Boora Parklands in Co. Offaly. He regularly makes contributions to conferences and seminars worldwide.
In 2010 he had a major show and performance ‘European Dream’ at Green on Red Gallery in Dublin and was the featured artist at Centre of Contemporary Art in Warsaw. Poland in the European festival there.In 2011 he has directed a work with Nine dancers and Musicians for Limerick Citys Festival in January. In March 2011 he has presented three performance Masterclasses and workshops throughout Ireland North and South. In May 2011 he worked live at the Morgenland Festival in Liechtenstein and at the Mountshannon Festival in Co Clare Ireland. In October 2011 in Miros Foundation in Mallorca,Spain he performed and made a residual installation
He is Senior Course Tutor in Fine Art at the Royal College of Art in London and Senior Visiting Critic at the Royal Academy Schools, London, and the University of Pennsylvania in the USA. In 2008/9 and in 2010/11 he was visiting Guest Artist at the Irish Academy at the University of Limerick and is faculty for the summer studio programme at VCU in Richmond Virginia for the past three years. In 2011/12 he is a visiting critic at the KABK/MAR at the Royal Academy of Art in Den Haag. Netherlands.
He has worked as a cabinetmaker and builder including constructing completely buildings; he has a very wide professional creative base that includes photo, film, video and audio production in professional spheres. He has been a set designer, dance director and curator of major international exhibitions and projects for young artists. For some years he ran and directed Dublin’s prime alternative space. He has delivered many keynote papers and involved in numerous lectures and panels. For the past three years he has begun again to make live work in the landscape and is making a continuing series of works on civil war sites in the South in the USA and most recently in the western and political Irish Landscapes.
