A contemporary piece of art commissioned by a government scheme is to be installed on an embankment on the N5 Charlestown by-pass.
The piece, which is to comprise two huge jigsaw pieces, one raised up from the ground and one recessed into the ground, will be sited on one of the vast roadside embankments. Created using corten steel, it will cover an area of 130 square metres in size.
The artwork will literally form the final piece of the jigsaw for this new road project which was officially opened in November 2007.
Declan Breen is the artist responsible for the design of this very original and contemporary feature. Declan, who is based in Co Wexford, has been successfully involved in public artwork commissions for many years and examples of his work can be seen across the country. Declan describes this current commission as “a comment on our continuing interaction with the landscape, moulding it and shaping it to suit our own purposes. The sculpture acts a marker, a signifier of arrival and departure. The whole embankment becomes part of the sculpture”.
The artwork is funded through the Government’s Per Cent for Art Scheme, which is made available to public bodies delivering capital construction projects, such as this newly constructed by-pass. Expressions of interest were received from artists from all over the world in response to this exciting commission and a judging panel including arts specialists, representatives from the local community and the National Roads Authority selected the final piece.
This ground breaking artwork, which will be entitled “The Last Detail”, will be an iconic gateway feature to the county and will be a welcome new addition to the county’s growing collection of fascinating artworks. The installation alone will be quite an event, taking place over several days and involving several people. A section of one of the lanes on the N5 will also be closed to facilitate the safe installation of the work, but will cause minimum disruption to motorists.
The artwork will be installed in late January and will be an intriguing spectacle. A launch event to officially unveil the work will follow later in the year. This new public art work will undoubtedly be enjoyed by many people for years to come.
