“In his beautiful small studio he shows me chairs that are the same as the ones he sat on as a child that he managed to find agin and buy as a man. He also shows me the enamelled metal jugs that inhabit his paintings. These are the ones he hated as a child that he now loves. That he now affectionately draws into his paintings. And always with a deep love and restraint. This is an act of retrieval. I do this myself. I have a teapot that looks like a house that I bought for my mother when I was eight. I’d rather have a truck driven through one of my paintings than lose this. When I see this quality in another person, I see how futile it is and how noble to keep trying to put it right. To fix the train that left the station forty years ago.”

We accompanied Gavin’s second visit to the exhibition last week, away from the opening night crowds. He pointed out his favourites and some of the details on Guggi’s work while we shot a few pictures. Click the link below to view.

To learn more about Guggi’s work:

• Listen to an interview on RTE’s The Arts Show
• Watch Guggi on the Late Late Show (Near the end of the stream) (April 3, 2009)

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.

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”.

Drawing by Gavin Friday