FEATURED WORK

 

Danny McCarthy

Flotsam (in Memory of Bas Jan Ader, Artist Lost at Sea)

 

This work is an assemblage of marine debris: a model boat the artist found washed up on the shoreline is attached to a large piece of wood, atop which is attached a broken record. This semicircle combines with the split in the wood to suggest a horizon line. The work is dedicated to the Dutch artist Bas Jan Ader (1942–1975), who tragically disappeared while sailing the Atlantic Ocean from the US coast to England. Danny McCarthy dedicates this work to the late artist with the intention of spreading the word about his practice. By employing marine debris as a communicative tool, he echoes the folk custom

of sharing a ‘message in a bottle’. The work captures the mystery of both Ader’s fate and the sea.

 

This exhibition features a selection of works and materials from the SIRIUS archives and collection that were uncovered during research and cataloguing undertakings initiated in 2021. The artists presented in this exhibition engage with themes of migration, place and environment. Highlights include Doug Dubois, Patrick Ireland, Danny McCarthy, Maura Sheehan and Softday, who created works inspired by Cobh’s landscape and social context.

 

This exhibition is curated by Miguel Amado, director, with assistance by Sarah Long, 2023 critic in residence, and Andrea Spörri, 2022 curatorial trainee. It is realised with the support of the Regional Museum Exhibitions Scheme (2024), Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.