Dorothy Cross: ‘Studio’ at Frieze Masters 2025

Dorothy Cross

It seems as if my studio exists outside its four walls. The building looks out at the Atlantic Ocean, on the west coast of Ireland. Several islands stretch to the horizon, emerging and merging through the weather. The space functions as a filter, gathering elements and snagging ideas. 

Over time, waves of materials come and go. When I first arrived 25 years ago, bodies of dead whales and broken boats were dragged in. For a decade, I hung a dried shark skin, pickled in taxidermy solution, before it eventually became a work, and was lined with pure gold. 

The  ‘Udder’ series began when working in a derelict power station in Dublin Bay in the 1990s. A sieve made from a cow udder, which I encountered in a folk museum in Norway, inspired two years of strange, powerful reincarnations in the studio. Later, many small silver objects appeared, such as A Kiss, which was extricated from couples’ mouths and moulded from plaster to wax to silver. And then more recently marble: the ultimate material that presents the evidence of time compressed, where chosen forms are expertly carved to emerge, fossil-like, from the blocks of stone. 

The only constant in the studio is in foxglove season, when I dip flowers picked from the land in red wax. Sets of fingers formed into bells are added, drawing attention to the folklore attached to the foxglove, Digitalis purpurea.   

The studio is not a nine-to-five space. It is part of my home.

Dorothy Cross is presented by Frith Street Gallery in Studio at Frieze Masters 2025 (Stand C12).

About Studio

Now in its third year, Studio, curated by Sheena Wagstaff, highlights Frieze Masters’ commitment to living practice in dialogue with historical art. By focusing on artists’ place of making, it reflects the idea of the past informing the present moment of creation in an object for the future. This year, the six featured artists are: Glenn Brown, Dorothy Cross, Anju Dodiya, Samia Halaby, R. H. Quaytman and Anne Rothenstein.

Explore Studio

Further Information

Frieze London and Frieze Masters The Regent’s Park, 15 – 19 October 2025.

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^{Main image: Dorothy Cross, works in progress, Studio Carlo Nicoli, Carrara, Italy. Courtesy: the artist and Frith Street Gallery, London}