Another colour injection

The city centre is about to get even more colourful thanks to the Ardú team.

Ardú Street Art project arrived in Cork in October 2020 injecting a burst of colour, vibrancy and life into the city in lockdown.

Seven of Ireland’s most respected and renowned street artists were invited to create key city centre locations, in response to a theme inspired by the 1920 Burning of Cork.

The Ardú team returned to Cork city’s streets on Monday and will be there until 11 October with four more large scale murals to brighten up the city centre landscape.

The 2021 edition will welcome artists Friz, Shane O'Malley, Conor Harrington and Asbestos.

Friz is a Belfast-based artist who works in both traditional and digital mediums, currently focused on spray painting. Her work largely revolves around the female form. It is a study in identity, who we are, where we come from and our connection to the natural world around us. See thisisfriz.com.

Shane O’Malley is a visual artist hailing from Navan, now based in Galway. His work explores colour, forms and symbols through painting. It is a meeting point of a studio practice and mural art painted in public spaces.

Shane began painting graffiti in 2001 drawn to the act of writing his name, which was creative in one way while destructive in another. Drawing and painting created the habit of processing through the act of making. See shaneomalleyart.com.

Meanwhile London-based artist Conor Harrington returns to his hometown of Cork for Ardú 2021.

A former graffiti artist, he not only still enjoys painting huge outdoor murals but consistently tackles new, inventive forms of art, often in a gallery setting.

He has painted numerous street pieces across the world. See conorharrington.com.

Asbestos is a street artist hailing from Dublin. Specialising in mixed media artwork, combining mediums like photography and painting onto found objects. Asbestos has been contributing to Ireland’s urban landscape since 2003.

His portraits explore the concept of identity that are a conversation with two versions of his persona. “Each mask portrays two versions of myself, one alive and one dead. The dead version is a fictional character that represents me, if I’d been killed in a car bomb,” he says.

The bomb he refers to was a real one that went off in Dublin 46 days before he was born, five minutes after his mother walked past it.

“I’ve always been fascinated about the fact that I may never have existed,” he said.

Ardú organisers Shane O’Driscoll, Paul Gleeson and Peter Martin are excited to present the second edition of Ardú to the public.

They said: “At a time when we face shared and personal challenges, each of our artist’s murals are a rallying cry to the city – a call to remember that we have been through terrible times before and we rose up. We can do it again. Having made such a positive impact on the city last year, we are excited to be back with another line-up of inspiring artists to transform Cork city’s streets.”

Friz is the first artist to kick off this year’s series. she is currently painting at St Finbarr’s Road.