URBAN EXPRESSION AND DEPRESSION
Street Photography That Highlights Urban Life
PHOTOGRAPHED 18 MARCH 2023
I learn something new every day. I thought that this example of paint-a-box street art was located on Nassau Street but it is actually on South Leinster Street which I have been unaware of until today.
ALSO TWO MINOR SCULPTURES
Today was the second day of the 2023 St Patrick’s Festival here in Dublin but I decided to avoid the areas that were too busy for my liking so I visited Merrion Square and there were even fewer people than I had expected in the park and the area in general.
Oscar Fingal O’Flahertie Wills Wilde (October 16, 1854 – November 30, 1900) was an Irish playwright, novelist, poet, and short story writer. Known for his barbed wit, he was one of the most successful playwrights of late Victorian London, and one of the greatest celebrities of his day. As the result of a famous trial, he suffered a dramatic downfall and was imprisoned for two years of hard labour after being convicted of the offence of “gross indecency”. The scholar H. Montgomery Hyde suggests this term implies homosexual acts not amounting to buggery in British legislation of the time.
This is, without doubt, a favourite of mine and I spend a lot of time trying to get the “best photograph ever” but it does not bother me that I need to try again.
Danny Osborne is an artist born in Dorset, England in 1949.He is a resident of Iqaluit, Nunavut, Canada and Cork, Ireland. Osborne studied at Bournemouth & Poole College of Art. He is best known for his public sculptures, particularly his Oscar Wilde Memorial Sculpture “The Quare in the Square in Merrion Square Park” (originally commissioned by Guinness Ireland Group for £45,000 and located across from Ireland’s National Gallery.
I like to listen to the tourist guides explaining this public art installation to visitors from all parts of the world and how often their descriptions are incorrect or incomplete. But, of course, the exact details are not all that important.
In 2016 I mentioned that the restoration of the Oscar Wilde installation had been completed with the return of the two minor bronzes to their plinths. The stone plinths or pillars are covered in quotations from Wilde. One has a bronze figure of a pregnant naked woman kneeling on the top, while the other has a bronze male torso. One explanation is that they indicate Wilde’s ambiguous sexuality and aesthetic sensibilities.
At the time I also reported that the orientation of the female nude has been corrected. It should be noted that the female nude is Oscar’s wife [Constance Lloyd] who was pregnant when Oscar had his first homosexual encounter. Originally she was facing Oscar but someone tried to steal the bronze and when the park staff restored it they installed it facing the wrong direction and then the tour guides came up with stories to explain why she had turned her back on her husband.
She is facing a different direction now but I am not 100% convinced that one could claim that she is now facing Oscar. Maybe she should be on the other plinth.
The sculptor Danny Osborne used complementary colour stones and also sought out stones with varying textures to give a more lifelike representation of Oscar Wilde than you would find in a conventional statue.
Wilde’s jacket is green stone which is complemented by red stone cuffs. The sculpture includes two stone pillars which are covered in quotations by Oscar Wilde. Placed on top of the pillars are two sculptures, one of the sculptures is a bronze figure of a pregnant naked woman kneeling this represents Oscar’s wife Constance, while the other pillar has a bronze male torso.
The two pillars which flank Oscar Wilde on both sides are used to set out his thoughts, opinions, witticisms on art and life for all to see and judge. These quotes were selected by a mixture of poets, public figures, artists, and scientists, who use Wilde’s own words to pay tribute to him.
JUST BEFORE IT GOT REALLY BUSY
On 20 May 2022, Capel street was made traffic-free, following a campaign by people who wanted to improve the quality of life on the street. It is now the longest traffic-free street in Dublin.
This is my local area and I have always liked Capel Street as it is a unique commercial street in the city centre. It is a great place to shop and it is full of excellent restaurants, I have tried most of them.
Capel Street is named after Arthur Capell, 1st Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland 1672–1677. Historically, it was the site of the chapel of St Mary’s Abbey. The street was laid out by Sir Humphrey Jervis in the late 17th century on the Abbey lands he purchased in 1674. He also built Essex Bridge (today Grattan Bridge), and the street was known for its mansions and a royal mint. In the 18th century, it became a commercial hub, with two-bay buildings replacing most of the “Dutch Billy” houses. In the late 1700s, the Italian composer, Tommaso Giordani, performed at a small purpose built theatre on the street. The Capel Street Theatre also stood there in the 18th century.
The Torch Theatre operated on Capel Street from 1935–41. The street declined in the 20th century, before a revival around the 1980s. Today it is known for its variety of restaurants, shops, cafés and pubs; as Panti, the owner of Pantibar put it, “You can buy a lightbulb, sexual lubricant, Brazilian rice, get a pint and go to a trad session”. Louis Copeland’s tailor is another notable business.
17 MARCH 2023
The grounds of one of Ireland’s most spectacular and historic heritage sites in the heart of Dublin will feature Tent Mór and Tent Beag, an outdoor Main Stage, performance spaces, relaxation areas, a mini-funfair and the Irish Food and Craft Village.
All daytime events will be free of charge, along with the full day and night programme on St. Patrick’s Day, supported by Dublin Airport. Night time events on the 16th and 18th of March will require a pre-purchased ticket that will be valid for the full evening’s programme.
Festival Quarter will be open to all ages throughout the day, and will be reserved for adults only from 6pm to 10:30pm. Just a short walk from the city centre, easily accessible by Luas and bus, and adjacent to Heuston Station, Festival Quarter will be a bustling hub for locals and visitors alike, from March 16th to 18th.
ST PATRICK’S DAY 2023
When Guinness is poured, the gas bubbles appear to travel downwards in the glass. The effect is attributed to drag; bubbles that touch the walls of a glass are slowed in their travel upwards. Bubbles in the centre of the glass are, however, free to rise to the surface, and thus form a rising column of bubbles. The rising bubbles create a current by the entrainment of the surrounding fluid. As beer rises in the centre, the beer near the outside of the glass falls. This downward flow pushes the bubbles near the glass towards the bottom. Although the effect occurs in any liquid, it is particularly noticeable in any dark nitrogen stout, as the drink combines dark-coloured liquid and light-coloured bubbles.
A study published in 2012 revealed that the effect is due to the particular shape of the glass coupled with the small bubble size found in stout beers. If the vessel widens with height, then bubbles will sink along the walls – this is the case for the standard pint glass. Conversely, in an anti-pint (i.e. if the vessel narrows with height) bubbles will rise along the walls.
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