Action (C3-24) – Naomi Sex
Naomi invited me to be one of five artists (along with Cormac Browne, Sinead McCann, Margaret O’Brien, and Naomi herself) participating in ‘The Gatekeeper Project’. Curated by Naomi, the project consisted of various interventions into the ‘People’s Art’ exhibition, an open-air event on the railings of St.Stephen’s Green in Dublin.

Fri – Sun, 21st – 23 rd August, 2009

‘All This Useless Beauty’
The closest Dublin comes to offering up an art-world version of power to the people are probably the thrice yearly, come rain or come shine, ‘People’s Art’ exhibitions. This year the popular event saw hundreds of box-room daubers converge on St. Stephen’s Green and subject their bedroom antics to the extra tough scrutiny of recession hit Dubliners. Mingling in this pageant of public display and potential humiliation I distributed a questionnaire to the participating exhibitionists seeking answers to a set of simple enquires, beginning with the very straight forward – ‘Why bother?’ After three days spent fielding copyright concerns and tackling the private parts of the exhibitors art-lives I emerged with some valuable insights into the often charming, mostly sincere, and sometimes lonely world of the railings artist. An analysis of this information will become an element of the wider study of professional art practice Naomi is currently undertaking as a PhD research scholar at the National College of Art and Design.