Portrait of Cork artist Bill Griffin on home ground

We catch up with Cork artist Bill Griffin as Charlie Bird performs the opening of the painter's exhibition now running in Allihies

Bill Griffin at his exhibition. Pictures: Brian Cronin

What influences our choice when we select a work of art for the home? Is it the simple enjoyment of the image or artefact, a reminder it gives of a place and time, or the artist behind the work?

According to former RTÉ news correspondent Charlie Bird, it can be a mixture of all three. “I said to my wife, inshallah, we’re coming towards the end of lockdown. I’d like a painting, a marker of Covid; I rang artist and friend Bill Griffin asking him to paint me a picture to act as a reminder both to me and generations to come of these past 18 months. I ended up taking two.”