Art – Topic – Gavin Friday

Topic: Art

John Hinde – Wish You Were Here

October 23, 2010 in Art - Comments

Written by Gavin Friday for The Irish Times supplement “The Moderns”, on the Irish Museum of Modern Art’s exhibition “The Moderns: The arts in Ireland from the 1900s to the 1970s”

“Having recently come across a book of photographs of John Hinde’s Ireland from the 1960s and 1970s, I was totally taken aback that after all these years they had such a poignant effect on me…Was this the Ireland I grew up in? An O Connell Street in the 1960s looking like an exotic boulevard from a Technicolor Hitchcock movie? The images of Butlins so overtly lush with surreal detail, saturated colour and over decorated glamour that they would put David LaChapelle to shame. This was Ireland as an imaginary island, a place where the sun was always shining, as seen through the eyes of John Hinde, who in his genius meticulously and painstakingly staged, designed and produced these images. He didn’t create them for any aspirational purpose or as great art, but as postcards to be sold for a few pence to tourists and holidays makers. Andy Warhol eat your heart out! He was an innovator and outsider and his work is most definitely a touchstone for many-the extraordinary printmaker Tim Mara, the profound writings from the wonderful mind of Pat McCabe, the Pop Art of early Robert Ballagh and more recently, Sean Hillen’s magical ‘Irelantis’. In hindsight, as a teenager I wrongly discarded these postcards as stage Irish – it most definitely wasn’t the Ireland I grew up in, yet today, I love and embrace these photographs wholeheartedly. Ireland through the eyes of John Hinde…Wish you were here.”

John Hinde – Wikipedia

Tomorrow belongs to me – programme

May 12, 2008 in Publications, Shows - Comments

Tomorrow belongs to me – bottles

May 12, 2008 in Art, Shows - Comments

Beer bottle labels created in 2006 by Gavin Friday and Redman AKA for Beck’s. Other artists to create labels for Becks include Damien Hirst, Gilbert & George and Jeff Koons.

Annalivia plurabelle

April 5, 2008 in Art - Comments

2007 Lunchbox Auction

December 10, 2007 in Charity, News - Comments

For the 2007 Lunchbox Auction, 100+ iconic celebrities from the entertainment, fashion, art, music, literary and culinary worlds remind us that food matters by creating personalized lunchbox art for online auction. The auction, which goes live on Friday, December 7, 2007 at 12 a.m. EST, will benefit two hunger-relief organizations: Food Bank For New York City and The Lunchbox Fund of South Africa. Each lunchbox is signed and numbered and no two lunchboxes are alike. Bid on Gavin’s box.

Sculpture in Context 2006

September 7, 2006 in Articles - Comments

Piece written by Gavin Friday about the National Botanic Gardens in Dublin for Sculpture in Context 2006, Glasnevin, Dublin 9

The National Botanic Gardens in Glasnevin Dublin is in my mind quite possibly the ‘Jewel in the Crown’ of Northside Dublin… yes there is more to the Northside than the Airport… lots more… but the ‘Bots’, as I call it, has a special place in my heart. It was where myself and my mates, way back in the early 1970′s, spent many a summer Sunday. We were gob-smacked by it’s beauty we had never seen the likes of it . We were no longer in the grey suburbia that was the Northside in the ’70′s …we were in ‘The Garden of Eden’. exotic flowers…. plants…. trees the size of Liberty Hall…. and if you ventured into the magnificent glasshouses….well it was like hanging out with Queen Victoria in the rain forests of South America except….it was Ireland…. we owned it… it was free in, and that’s not to mention…. it was “The Place “ to check out or meet the local “Talent”.

Those were the days before true “Teenage Rampage” kicked in and we all formed Bands and started to build our own “Gardens of Eden”.

About two years ago I had a photo session to do for the Sunday Independent and, off the cuff, I decided to do it in the ‘Bots’ … something very magical hit me … yes the ‘Bots’ was still as beautiful….even more so due to it’s recent refurbishing, but something was different … SCULPTURE.

All over the gardens was the most amazing collection of sculpture all intertwined with the trees and plants and all the glorious surroundings that the ‘Bots’ holds … from Surrealistic Monkeys hanging from the trees … to Cloned Genetically Modified Sheep eating the grass … to Metal Cacti … to Friendly Concrete Slugs hanging out by the pool…to Winged Angels descending on the Rockery … it was extraordinary. It was ART where it should be … out in the open for all to see … no snobbery just ART. Sculpture in Context’s people were behind it …. and this year again they are casting their magical spell all over the ‘Botanic Gardens’. ART should be like the flowers, plants and trees we should feel and see it spontaneously … ‘Sculpture in Context’ debunks the myth that one has to be ‘educated’ or ‘intellectual’ to appreciate or enjoy Sculpture / Art.

This is ART for the people without any of the deep and meaningful crap that a lot of the galleries have smothered ART with … yes, I know ART can be deep and meaningful but it should not be ELITIST … it should be OUT THERE FOR ALL … and let them make their own minds up…. actually they don’t even have to do that…. just Feel and Enjoy it … bring your children … bring your granny…. or go alone you’d never know it may inspire a budding five-year-old Picasso-To-Be … or better still if you check out the ‘Talent’ you may even fall in love.

Gavin Friday
2006

Jokers get auctioned

April 5, 2002 in Charity, News - Comments

Gavin’s 2001 Art:pack contribution, will be auctioned off on Wednesday April 10th.
The original art works from Art:pack, the best-selling deck of cards designed by leading contemporary artists, including a joker by Bono, will be auctioned by Christie’s at the Royal Hibernian Academy on April 10th 2002. Art:pack has sold over 25,000 copies and has raised almost €500,000 for the Irish Hospice Foundation.
Viewing takes place on Tuesday April 9th 2002 at the Royal Hibernian Academy in Ely Place from 12 noon to 5pm and on Wednesday April 10th from 11am to 4pm followed by a reception at 6pm with the auction itself at 7.30pm. Any art lover interested in owning an Art:pack original is invited to attend. Christie’s will also be auctioning a number of Art:packs signed by all of the contributing artists – a definite collector’s item.
Absentee bids via fax or e-mail will be accepted. e-mail info@hospice-foundation.ie for more information.

Art:pack auction

January 17, 2002 in Charity, News - Comments

From artpack.ie: Christies will be auctioning off the original art works for “Art:pack”, the pack of cards designed by Irish artists (including jokers by Gavin, Bono and an Ace of Clubs by Guggi) in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation.
The event will take place at The Royal Hibernian Academy in Dublin. Viewing will be all day Tuesday April 9th with a reception on Wednesday April 10th at 6.00pm, followed by the auction at 7.30pm.

Artists play cards for Irish Hospice Foundation

September 13, 2001 in Charity, News - Comments

Gavin, Bono and Guggi have contributed to Art:pack, a deck of playing cards in aid of the Irish Hospice Foundation with each card designed by a contemporary artist. Bono and Gavin designed the jokers.
Other people involved in the project include Glen Dimplex winning artist Matthew Barney, Clea van der Grijn, Sean Hillen and Sibylle Ungers.
The Irish Hospice foundation was founded by Dr Mary Redmond in 1986. Recognising the need to improve care services available to people suffering from terminal illness in Ireland, the IHF launched a special appeal with the aim of raising £1 million in one year.
Last year, Gavin performed ‘Peter and the Wolf’ with the orchestra of the Royal Irish Academy of Music, to support the Hospice foundation. In 2000 Gavin and Bono contributed to the IHF’s Whoseday Book, a diary for the year 2000 bringing together special contributions from 366 of Ireland’s foremost writers, painters, poets, philosophers and personalities.
www.artpack.ie

Artists for Kosovo

August 30, 1999 in Art, Charity - Comments

Two-thirds of the Kosovar refugees who fled the war in April (some 600,000 people) returned to their homeland. These people came back to find widespread destruction: over 500,000 houses were destroyed or seriously damaged; 40% of water sources contaminated by debris, animal and human remains and an estimated 1 million mines have been laid in Kosovo by the Serbian and KLA forces. Every individual experienced a personal loss and trauma, recovery from which will take years.
Discussing this situation one day in the pub with his manager Anne-Louise Kelly, Gavin felt it was time to do something about it. Anne-Louise got in touch with Irish relief organisation Concern who were running the ‘Concern for Kosovo’ appeal.

Three Wishes for Kosovo
Concern asked them to travel to Kosovo to shoot some footage which could be used to highlight the realities of the aftermath of war for the Kosovans. The 30 minute film, Three Wishes for Kosovo, which was produced out of this trip was screened on RTE (Irish television) on Friday, December 17th, 1999.

The Slide Projection Exhibition
As part of the ‘Concern for Kosovo’ appeal, “Artists for Kosovo” was a public art exhibition held in Meeting House Square, in Dublin. The exhibition ran from 27th July to 30th August 1999. The exhibition, which was conceived and inspired by Gavin Friday and curated by Aileen Corkery of Temple Bar Properties, aimed to create awareness, and stimulate reaction to the inhumane situation in Kosovo.
The slide show consisted of images by 34 artists plus work from the children of St. Audoen’s National School, Dublin. The artists themselves came from varying creative backgrounds: photography, graphic design, music, fine arts, architecture and it is from this vast diversity combined with the thoughts of children that gives the exhibition a unique strength and quality.
In addition to the visual projections, Gavin Friday and Maurice Seezer composed a special piece of music to accompany the slides.

Laurent Mellet - Muc

Múc the Flying Piggy bank
The second part of the exhibition was artist Laurent Mellet’s sculptural installation of Gavin’s vision of ‘Múc the Flying Pig. Múc was designed by artist Laurent Mellet. Standing 12ft high x 8ft long x 5ft wide, the creation of Múc was inspired by the phrase ‘if pigs could fly’ and is the symbol of hope and possibility for Kosovo. Múc enabled the public, but in particular children, who are excluded from the normal credit card appeals, to ‘feed the pig’ with donations towards the Kosovo Appeal.
With the help of the staff of AIB around the country, Concern and the National Primary Schools of Ireland, ‘Muc’ – the smelly pig toured the towns of Ireland in a blaze of publicity and fun to collect money like a piggy bank for the Kosovo appeal in Ireland.
Educational packs were sent to 4,000 primary schools throughout the country. Boys and girls were encouraged to set up their own collections.

“This is a completely different approach to raising funds for Kosovo”, said Gavin Friday. “The ‘Concern for Kosovo’ Appeal involves a multi programme featuring the unique and surreal flying pig ‘Muc’. The programme, in addition to generating significant funds, aims to educate and raise the awareness of the continued plight of refugees in general”.