More street art in Cork city: the Ardú mural trail expands for 2021
The Ardú Street Art Initiative team, outside the mural painted by artist Aches at the end of Anglesea Street. Pic: Clare Keogh
At a time when the museums and arts spaces had to be closed, and the pandemic meant making the most of seeing our surroundings in a new way, the Ardú street art project served as a way for Corkonians to stay connected to creativity on a large scale.
Seven of Ireland's top street artists came together to make new works in response to the centenary of the Burning of Cork, and the idea that the city could once again emerge from tough times.
Today sees the return of the project to the streets of Cork city for round two, adding four more murals to the city's landscape, each painted by an artist new to the project.
Belfast-based Friz is currently focused on spray-painting, having generated a body of traditional and digital art, largely revolving around the female form.
She's kicking the project off this year, beginning work today (Monday) on a mural at St Finbarr’s Road.
Shane O’Malley is a visual artist hailing from Navan, and based in Galway. He pursues colour, forms and symbols through painting, drawing on twenty years of experience - arriving somewhere between street art and studio process.
London based Corkman Conor Harrington returns to his hometown for this year's Ardú, balancing classical and contemporary art in a manner that draws on his roots as a graffiti artist, with work on display in New York, Miami, Paris, London, Warsaw, Copenhagen, Aalborg, Mallorca, Sao Paulo, San Juan and the Bethlehem Wall.
Asbestos is a street artist hailing from Dublin, specialising in mixed media artwork, combining mediums like photography and painting onto found objects. The masked man deals with life and death from a deeply formative personal experience, oftentimes painting the same place or object in two styles.
"Each mask portrays two versions of myself, one alive and one dead. The dead version is a fictional character that represents me, if I’d been killed in a car bomb”, says the artist of a real explosive that went off in Dublin, 46 days before he was born, 5 minutes after his mother walked past it.
"I’ve always been fascinated about the fact that I may never have existed."
- Further details on the Ardú Street Art project, including each mural location, will be announced soon.
- For more information and links to different social media, where you can watch progress as it happens on each mural, go to arducork.ie
- Deirdre Breen at Wandesford Quay
- Maser at The Kino
- James Earley at Henry Street
- Peter Martin at Kyle Street
- Shane O’Driscoll at Harley Street
- Aches at Anglesea Street
- Garreth Joyce at Liberty Street
Take the audio tour on your smart device: arducork.ie.
