What’s your poison – Tony O’Malley or Francis Bacon?
The Irish Times are back full steam with ‘Art Porn’ and their Art & Antiques correspondent, Michael Parsons, was gushing in his praise of the two deceased Irish artists in his piece on RTE radio this morning. What’s brought on this latest media frenzy is the forthcoming sale on St.Patrick’s Day by Christies (London) of two paintings by ‘self-taught’ artist Tony O’Malley. It’s not the two nondescript paintings by O’Malley that have excited the media but the fact that they are painted on two halves of an unfinished canvas by Francis Bacon.
O’Malley’s paintings ‘Currach, Clare Island’ and ‘Evening Landscape, Tehidy Hospital’ are fairly standard daubs and carry a paltry estimate of £20,000 – £30,000, but put together and reversed and they become the Francis Bacon work which could sell for huge multiples of that figure. Another example of ‘art’ as an investment, and a triumph of hype over substance. Bacon’s awful, uncompleted sketch looks like a pregnant Charlie Haughey crossed with Oswald Chesterfield Cobblepot aka super villain ‘The Penguin’, and not something that I would want about the place at any price! That said, it will probably sell for millions. Here’s the link to the auction in case any of you feel like sticking in a bid.
Antiques Roadshow – Clinstown National School, Co.Kilkenny – Sunday 7th February, 2016
More information here: http://www.sheppards.ie/clinstown
The Barbarians are Inside the Gates!
DOUGLAS HORSE TRAMWAY TO CLOSE
If you’ve ever been to the Isle of Man, or are a transport preservationist of any kind please consider signing this petition asking that Douglas Corporation and the Isle of Man Government reconsider their hasty decision to close-down the unique Douglas Horse Tramway with immediate effect.
In many ways the Isle of Man is run in the same Mickey Mouse fashion as our own country – i.e. by an elite, out of touch clique who blunder from one crisis to the next while always managing to look after themselves and their pals in the process. The island’s tourist industry has been dying a death through neglect for decades and the people who want to kill off the tramway are cut from the same cloth as the charlatans who have the abolition of the Isle of Man TT in their sights. A tax haven purged of the pesky visitors who lower the tone of the place is their long-term goal. Apartment blocks for those involved in the financial laundry sector have all but obliterated most of the hotels on Douglas Promenade so it’s little wonder that traffic on the tramway has been in decline.
Please sign the petition!
Collect Ireland 