Ardú Street Art has returned to the streets of Cork for their 2023 edition, as the first artists take their positions to create a striking new largescale mural for the city.
The mural, currently a work in progress on the corner of Bridge Street and Coburg Street, has been designed as a collaboration between co-organisers of Ardú Shane O’Driscoll and Peter Martin.
Shane is a visual artist from Cork and has painted in a number of Street Art festivals throughout the country, as well as having two large scale murals in Cork City. Peter Martin, also based in Cork, has worked predominantly in public art over the last few years where he creates large scale figurative artwork in mediums such as murals, tiled mosaics, and stained glass. History, culture, and identity feature strongly throughout his work, and he endeavours to create work which is a commentary and often a celebration of place.
Their mural design commemorates Tomás MacCurtain. A man that contributed so much not only to the revolution in Ireland and Cork over 100 years ago, but also for his contribution to arts and culture in the city. It is the culmination of a project with Transition Year students from St. Angela’s and Christian Brothers College.
Keep a careful eye out for two more murals appearing in the city for Ardú 2023 in the coming weeks.
ABOUT ARDÚ:
Ardú Street Art was established in Cork during lockdown of October 2020, originally bringing seven of Ireland’s most respected and renowned street artists – Deirdre Breen, Maser, James Earley, Peter Martin, Shane O’Driscoll, Aches, and Garreth Joyce – to create large scale murals at key Cork city-centre locations.
Thanks to phenomenal community engagement and support, the event returned in 2021 with four more walls unveiled by Shane O’Malley, Friz, Conor Harrington, and Asbestos. And again in 2022, with artists Claire Prouvost, Kitsune Jolene, and VENTS137.
These fourteen inspiring pieces of work dotted across the city add greatly to the cultural landscape of the city centre. They’ve spurred conversations on the ground, shared widely across online platforms, and been praised internationally in the likes of Travel US Magazine, and the Brooklyn Street Art website.
Ardú Street Art Project is the brainchild of visual artist and designer Shane O’Driscoll, muralist, stained-glass artist and secondary school teacher Peter Martin, and organiser of the annual Cork Graffiti Jam, Paul Gleeson. Project managed by Rose-Anne Kidney of Goldiefish Events and made possible with generous support from Cork City Council and Creative Ireland.
Follow Ardú on social media for updates coming soon: Twitter @ArduStreetArt / https://twitter.com/ArduStreetArt | Instagram: @ArduStreetArt | www.arducork.ie
This project is supported by the Decade of Centenaries Programme
Ardú is supported by the Creative Ireland Programme, an all-of-government five-year initiative, from 2023 to 2027, which places creativity at the centre of public policy. Further information from creativeireland.gov.ie
This project would not be possible without the support of Cork City Council and Ardú’s generous sponsors Pat Mc Donnell Paints, Cork
