A Break with Carrot Juice 13/2, 2012, Lithograph, 21 x 29.7 cm. Image courtesy the artist and mother’s tankstation.

The United Nations has designated 2021 the International Year of Fruits and Vegetables (IYFV), to raise awareness of the important of fruit and vegetables for everyone. To mark IYFV 2021, we have brought together a selection of artworks from the Arts Council Collection that feature fruit and/or vegetables. Artworks in this showcase span the history of the collection, with earliest being dated 1964 and the most recent being dated 2018.

Here, Atsushi Kaga, whose work is featured online showcase, tells us more about the featured artwork ‘A Break with Carrot Juice 13/20’ and what it means to have his artwork as part of the Arts Council collection. Explore this and more from the Arts Council collection at instagram.com/artscouncilireland/   

In this print I depict a mundane and uneventful day of the painter who paints Josef Albers like abstract paintings. The painter, Bunny appears more like a serious hobbyist Sunday painter than a professional artist. I like to reference art histories in West and East as well as mixing ‘unlikely couples’ to make awkward juxtapositions.

I paint vegetables and fruits a lot in my work, lately even more so since 2011 the nuclear disaster in Fukushima. It has completely changed the way we think about food and food production.

Sometimes, I like painting peaceful images like the ones on the old Chinese and Japanese ceramics. They are everyday ordinary scenes of normal people.  This is one of them.

Being part of the Arts Council Collection means a lot to me since I am originally from Japan. It feels like I am included. I am always grateful to and amazed by the Irish hospitality.  

—Atsushi Kaga

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 is comprised of more than 1,200 artworks including sculpture, painting, performance, print, video, installation, and photography and other works, many of which 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.