Corporate commission for Hines in Cherrywood, Co Dublin

laser cut and welded corten steel, 4.5m tall and 3.7m tall

2 large corten steel pillars flank the entrance to Tully Park. The commissioner Hines requested that the name to the park appear on the sides of the artwork in both English and Irish. The text appear on both artworks, so the name of the park can be seen from all approaches. When creating the design I researched EU standards and regulations so as to avoid any danger of finger traps hazards for children.

I have taken the Viking carved designs from the Rathdown stone slabs as an inspirational starting point, and have used their forms and repetitions to create a new composition for the columns. These adaptations are an improvisation on the style as a way of acknowledging the heritage of the site. I have purposely avoided using the symbol of the Christian cross as a decorative element, in recognition of the sensitivity of representing religious iconography outside of the context of a church or graveyard. This design embraces the decorative elements of our distant ancestors, not just our Viking ancestors but our neolithic ancestors as well. Stone Age artworks, most notably at Newgrange, use concentric circles, crescent moons, straight and arcing lines similar to those seen on the Rathdown slabs.