These are four pieces commissioned by the Office of National Works for an exhibition in Dublin where 25 artists responded to the work of Giovanni Battista Piranesi. It was shown partly in the Dublin Castle and partly in the Casino Marino, a building commissioned by James Caulfeild, Earl of Charlemont, who was briefly Piranesi’s patron. The show was due to be in 2020 but was postponed to 2022 and has recently closed.
These four sculptures intended to recreate a Piranesi scene in 3D. Referencing the poem Ozymadias by Shelley, particularly the line “Look at my works, ye mighty, and despair” I made sculptures of four pieces left by a ruined Kingdom, each with symbolic meaning. A broken column shows a life cut short, the column capital fallen, a half submerged upside-down bust, and the feet of a colossal sculpture. Together, they describe a lost kingdom, and the viewer can walk around a giant print.
