IRISH ICONS

Spit on me, Dickie





Helen was going in to Town to look for an outfit for the Big Wedding. I rode along with her to Jervis Street but she made it clear she wanted to do her own shopping. I walked up to Parnell Square to the Municipal Gallery. I never miss an opportunity to see Francis Bacon's Studio (more than 7000 artifacts arranged exactly as they were in his London studio) and the treasue trove of Impressionist works that Hugh Lane collected for the city.

I walked back down O'Connell Street and cut across the Half Penny Bridge into Temple Bar. I was looking for the Gaelchultúr building but I never found it. Instead, I wandered around until I came to a less-developed part of Temple Bar. On Bedford Lane there are panels by individual artists who are part of a co-operative, The Icon Factory. The panels, as the name suggests, depict icons of Irish social, cultural, and sporting life. Everybody who is anyone (or was anyone) in Ireland in the past 150 years is depicted. There is a funny commentary for most panels that gives some idea of the context of each personality or group. My favorites were the literary panels and the panels on the greats of traditional and popular music. You can bet that Shane MacGowan is up there with the best.

Back on the other side of the river I met up with Helen again for coffee before we went home.