The Temple Bar Traders along with The Icon Factory initiated a great project to brighten up the streets of Dublin during these times of recession (and general gloom).
Four artists – Kevin Bohan, Fink, Aga Szot and Tarsila Krüse – were kindly invited to paint a traffic light box each around the Temple Bar area.
We prepared the boxes (thanks a million Kev!) and set ourselves to the challenge!
I was assigned the traffic light box on the junction of Fishamble Street and Lord Edward Street, just outside the Christ Church Cathedral.
It is such a premium location! The area was where vikings had their first settlements in Ireland and to honor that heritage I decided to add a friendly chap to the neighborhood.
My Viking was completely hand painted and took a whole week to complete (under rain and wind which led to a strong cold), but hey, totally worth it! Look at these faces!
The result was very welcome and appreciated by many passers-by including locals from every economic background, foreigners, students, tourists…Many took pictures!
Please see the images from Stephen O’Leary, Carolina Bornholdt and Go Car Dublin. Gareth Hacking from Manchester kindly also featured my Viking on his blog! Overall everybody was very very friendly.
The project even caught the attention of the Dublin City Council which now intends to implement a similar project throughout the city and let’s hope Dublin can become even a more beautiful and fair city.
My happy viking is still there in good shape for everyone to just open up a smile to him.
Happy Viking
Fishamble Street/Lord Edward Street
Outside Christ Church Cathedral
Dublin 2