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Tondo @ Night                      September 2010
Text Box: Back to “Tondo Exhibitions” Back to “Solo Exhibitions” STATEMENT On Culture Night this year, the Tondo art group decided to stage an exhibition in Anne’s lane in Dublin. We were following a historic precedent set in 19th century Russia by the Peredvizhniki, ( the Society for Travelling Art Exhibitions or “the Wanderers” ) and we were challenging contemporary notions of how or where art should be encountered. The Peredvizhniki came together in 1870 in protest at the academic restrictions of the St Petersburg Academy of Arts. Rather than continue to paint in the Classical or Romantic style, they set out to depict life as it really was in Russia at the time. Their subjects included the struggles of the common people, paintings of the countryside and everyday life in Russia. Nowadays, these ideas mightn’t seem too radical but at that time, freedom of expression was severely curtailed in Russia and the Peredvizhniki believed that they had a special responsibility to effect change in the country. So we made artworks that would fit in a wooden chest which we then placed on the back-carrier of a bicycle, which we parked in Anne’s Lane for the evening. (Some people may know this particular laneway as it leads to the Kerlin Gallery, one of Dublin’s finest private galleries). I decided to make a piece based on how Ireland is today - a divided society with an ever-widening gap between rich and poor. I painted images of ‘the unfortunate’ on a wooden cube, interspersed with sections of gold leaf. I wrapped the cube in muslin and nestled it in straw in the wooden chest. It was entitled: Fools’ Gold