Mandy O’Neill | Diane at Larkin Community College from the series Champions Avenue | 2018 | Hahnemuhle Photo Rag paper | 76 x 101cm

For Culture Night 2021, the Arts Council will continue its proud tradition of showcasing a selection of works recently added to its extensive Visual Art Collection. The Arts Council Collection established in 1962 and comprising over 1,250 works of modern and contemporary Irish art.

The works on show from the Collection showcase the Arts Councils ongoing commitment to purchasing excellent and ambitious works of art which reflect the excellent standard of contemporary Irish visual arts practice and which both engage with and represent Ireland today.

As this year it will not be possible to welcome audiences to share these works in person at the Arts Council’s buildings in Dublin as we usually would, we have invited a few artists whose artwork has recently been acquired for the Collection give some insight into their works and practice.

For Culture Night 2021 we will celebrate the Arts Council Collection’s continuing history of purchasing ambitious work that engages with and reflects contemporary Irish society by highlighting works by artists Orla Barry, Cecilia Danell, Mandy O’Neill, Rajinder Sing, which have been added to the Collection in the past year.

Here, Mandy O’Neill tells us more about her featured artwork, her practice and what it means to have her work included as part of the Arts Council Collection

Explore this and more from the Arts Council Collection at instagram.com/artscouncilireland/

Diane at Larkin Community College 2018 is part of a body of work entitled Champions Avenue that emerged from a two-year artist’s residency at Larkin Community College, Dublin 1.

The school is situated in the heart of Dublin’s inner city and is attended by a diverse student population of over 400 pupils. LCC is a DEIS school (Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools), part of a government Action Plan for Educational Inclusion. The residency (supported by Young People, Children and Education grants from the Arts Council) was part of a wider long-term study of school and education, that posed questions about equality of opportunity and the support systems in place to nurture children and young people. 

Diane was one of the sixth year pupils at the school and had a particularly strong and enigmatic presence. Aidan Dunne (Irish Times, Aug 2018), describes Diane as having ‘an unmistakable attitude’ of meeting ‘the viewers gaze with cool assurance and, looking to art history, something of the bearing of a renaissance prince’. This image was winner of the Zurich Portrait Prize 2018 at the National Gallery of Ireland.
— Mandy O’Neill

Since 1962, the Arts Council has been buying art from working artists. The Collection that evolved tells the story of modern and contemporary Irish visual art in a unique and fascinating way. Today the Collection continues to grow and its more than 1,250 paintings, sculptures and other works are on display in public spaces all over Ireland for people to experience and enjoy first hand. You can find out more at: www.artscouncil.emuseum.com