How agreeable are you?
I’m pretty agreeable. Generally I come to a meeting or a discussion with an open mind and am always interested in what people have to say. I think I’m more of a listener than a contributor, but having said that, I also like to collaborate a lot. I think collaboration, particularly in art forms or exhibitions or commissions, is very beneficial. When dealing with corporate bodies, public bodies or clients in general, being agreeable is definitely a plus, and encourages a dialogue where you can bring ideas to a broader or a deeper understanding for both parties.
What’s your middle name and what do you think of it?
My middle name is Bartholomew, but I haven’t thought about it in a long time. I used to think about it a lot when I was in school because when we were preparing for our Confirmation, we had to give our middle names before we decided on what Confirmation names we wanted to adopt. Bartholomew got out, and so I was called Bart. When I finished school, being called Bart went away. Why my parents decided to call me Bartholomew is a good question, but I don’t really know why.
Where is your favourite place in Ireland?
Most definitely the Beara peninsula. My dad designed a house down there at the end of the 1960s, just after I was born. He came across a pre-Famine ruin, which he restored, and then designed some additional buildings around it. We still have it. We share it with family, the extended family, and it has been a place where we all congregate every year, sometimes several times a year. It is definitely a place where I feel most at home because it has been with me all my life. That aside, Beara is a very relaxing and enjoyable place in any weather.
Describe yourself in three words
Sharp, independent and learning. Sharp in that I think of myself as having a sense of humour, but also I can be quite snappy, quite intolerant in some respects, albeit more out of frustration than anything else. Independent, because I definitely like to get around by myself, and I’ve basically lived an independent life. And learning, because I believe there is always something new to learn.
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When did you last get angry?
I can’t recall, but I will tell you what makes me angry. In my situation, where it’s pretty hard to get around or to get from one place to another, I have to rely on things to work. When things don’t work, particularly on an infrastructural level, it’s very annoying and very hard to accept. It happens in every country, but in Ireland, the level of incompetence is really frustrating. There isn’t the infrastructure to make sure that things are maintained properly, or else there’s a kind of laziness in trying to maintain things. That makes me angry, but I don’t let it take over my day; I let it pass pretty quickly. That said, something that should be able to work – and work for everybody, inclusively – but doesn’t, is something that is surely quite basic at this point.
What have you lost that you would like to have back?
Oh, I don’t know ... Oh, yes, something really weird. It was a vest, like a jacket. It was very good for working in because working in a cold space, you need to stay warm. And also, a belt I’d had since I was about 10 years of age very mysteriously disappeared about 10 years ago. For some odd reason, I have very strong attachments to them, and I do wish I had them back. Normally, I’m pretty good about keeping things.
What is your strongest childhood memory?
We lived in a lane in Dublin, and my strongest memory is walking down the lane with my dad, trying to imitate the sound of his shoes crunching on the ground. His shoes would make this particular sound, and I would try to imitate the sound with my shoes, but it never worked. It’s an interesting one, because I wasn’t listening to the birds or to the traffic, just the sound of his feet.
Where do you come in your family’s birth order and has this defined you?
I come second last. There are five of us, but I don’t know if it has really defined me because we’re very much a collective group. I suppose when I was younger, I would have noticed a kind of pecking order, but it’s far less so now that we’ve grown older. It really doesn’t matter.
What do you expect to happen when you die?
I expect to be dead, and I really don’t want any f**k-ups.
When were you happiest?
I’m happiest when I complete a body of work or a commission or an exhibition. The reason why it makes me happy is that it always presents something back to me that I didn’t expect. It introduces me to a new lens for looking at the work. I can spend a lot of time on the work, but I never really know how long it’s going to take. It could take an afternoon, a day, or several months, but the result is that you have a sense of joy and happiness that the work reveals to you in a certain way.
Which actor would play you in a biopic about your life?
I suppose the obvious would be Peter Dinklage, but maybe Nicholas Cage, because he can be such a transformative actor.
What’s your biggest career/personal regret?
Definitely not reading enough when I was younger, when I was a child. I regret that because it takes me forever to read a book, and it takes me forever to write a paragraph, particularly when I’m trying to write something constructive about my work. I’m trying to improve on that. Ultimately I need to be able to relax and then concentrate enough to be able to jump into a book and stay with it. The problem is that I distract myself very easily. I’m always shifting around and seeing what else is going on.
Have you any psychological quirks?
I talk to myself out loud all day long, as I work and in public. I actually find it quite comforting because I tend to spend a lot of time on my own. What do I talk about? Anything. It’s usually what’s on my mind: What am I looking for? What am I doing? How do I do this?
In conversation with Tony Clayton-Lea. Corban Walker’s exhibition Resist runs at Solomon Fine Art Gallery, Dublin, until Saturday, November 15th, and is part of Dublin Gallery Weekend 2025
