McDermott & McGough United States, b. 1952/1958

Their photography involves appropriating images and objects from the late 19th century to the mid 20th century, and they project an image of themselves as gentlemen, posing as erudite, impertinent characters. Since 2006, in the timeless approach that remains the basis of McDermott & McGough's work, the artists also draw from the powerful narrative and dramatic imagery from Hollywood movies of the 1940s to the 1960s. These melodramatic films were based was on exaggeration or even excess of emotion.

McDermott & McGough’s work has appeared in solo and group exhibitions at public institutions such as Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankgurt, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New Museum of Contemporary Art, New York, Centre Pompidou, Paris, Kunsthalle Wien, Vienna, Manezh Moscow, Moscow, and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. Previous exhibitions also include the Whitney Biennial, New York, in 1987, 1991 and 1995. McDermott & McGough mounted a mid-career retrospective at the Provincial Museum voor Moderne Kunst, Oostende.

McDermott & McGough live and work in Dublin and New York City.