BANDON artist Shane O’Driscoll and the Ardú Street Art are returning to the scene of their first work for their latest project.
Following the completion of a new collaborative mural commemorating Tomás MacCurtain on Coburg Street by artists Shane and Peter Martin last month, the Ardú team are again collaborating with some of the country’s finest street artists for a new piece on Harley Street in the city.
Shane painted the first Ardú mural on Harley Street in October 2020. ‘We never knew at that point the direction that Ardú would go. We certainly didn’t think that we’d be getting to a point where we would be repainting murals from our first year...That’s just the nature of street art and murals only have a certain lifespan.’
Ardú Street Art was established in Cork during lockdown of October 2020, originally bringing seven renowned street artists - Deirdre Breen, Maser, James Earley, Peter Martin, Shane O’Driscoll, Aches, and Garreth Joyce - to create large scale murals at key Cork city-centre locations.
It is the brainchild of visual artist and designer Shane, muralist, stained-glass artist and secondary school teacher Peter Martin, and organiser of the annual Cork Graffiti Jam, Paul Gleeson. The project is managed by Rose-Anne Kidney of Goldiefish Events and supported by Cork City Council and Creative Ireland.
James Earley, Tony Byrne, and Cian Walker are collaborating on the new work for Ardú, which pays homage to the history of the county through to the city’s cosmopolitan modernity.
‘Our aim was to create an exciting, stimulating mural that allows viewers to appreciate on a purely aesthetic level but also one that offers nuggets of reference and inspiration for those who wish to explore more deeply.’
