The Market Place Theatre & Arts Centre in Armagh is hosting Desmond Kinney’s exhibition, BUILE SHUIBHNE ‘SWEENEY ASTRAY’.
Northern Ireland born international artist Desmond Kinney is best known for his revival of the technique of working with mosaics, through various large-scale murals and public art works mainly focused on Irish myths and legends. In the 1980’s he started illustrated calligraphy, working on Seamus Heaney’s translation Sweeney Astray, creating paintings in the medium of watercolour. The Home of Saint Patrick Festival 2020 and The Market Place Gallery are delighted to exhibit sixteen of Kinney’s stunning illustrations which have never been exhibited publically before.
Buile Shuibhne, in English ‘The Madness of Sweeney’ is an old Irish myth immortalised in verse composed during the 12th Century. The poem inspired many writers, including Seamus Heaney, who made his own translation of it, published in 1984. Heaney’s friend, artist Desmond Kinney, enamoured by the work, turned it into a series of watercolours featuring his personalised calligraphy.
Desmond Kinney also transformed the Buile Shuibhne into a large mosaic frieze which is situated at the University of Limerick. The mosaic made in Venetian vitrious glass features quotations from Seamus Heaney’s text. The poet and the painter remained lifelong friends.
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