Working Life: You don’t know whose work you are buying, but it could be a real prize

Lucinda Hall, incognito art curator at the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation

Fri, 04 Apr, 2025 - 02:00

“The charity’s founder, the late Jonathan Irwin, was a friend of my husband’s, and he was constantly looking at ways to raise money to fund vital in-home nursing and respite care for severely ill children and their families, based on his own experience.

“The idea for the incognito art sale came from my hairdresser, Ian. Every year, he disappeared to London for a few days in October. When I asked why, he said, ‘I camp with my son for two nights near the Royal College of Art in Kensington, for the possibility of buying a painting by a famous artist’. The college ran an annual mystery art sale and, for £30 (€36), you had a shot at a postcard-sized painting by someone famous. It was so popular, people camped out.

“I mentioned the idea to Jonathan some years later, and, before I knew it, I was in charge of organising an incognito art sale for the charity.

“The first time we ran it, in 2017, we got lots of artists on board, despite social media not really being a thing back then.

“We held an actual exhibition in Dublin’s Solomon Gallery and people had two days to view the paintings, before they went on sale. We weren’t sure if anyone would turn up, but there was a queue of 100, hours before the gallery opened. We raised €65,000 and a whopping €1.2m to date.

“During the pandemic, we had to pivot, selling the artwork online. It worked. For the next few years, we kept it online.

“We missed the gallery and this year we’re doing both. People can preview the collection in person in the Incognito Gallery at Charlemont Square, Dublin on April 9 and 10, with the gallery sale over the next two days, or they can buy online on April 16, from 8am, via www.incognito.ie.

“The artists will be revealed on April 17. Each artwork costs €70 and it will be a case of first come, first served at the gallery, and fastest finger first for the online sale. We have more than 3,500 artworks this year. People love the element of chance. You don’t know whose work you are buying, but it could be a real prize.”