Marie Lugli

Paint the Town Red

Year: 2003. Red Bull Company Collection, London.

Part of Red Bull's "The Art of Can" Exhibition, 31 Oct - 2 Nov 2003, Dublin

While we were "all off to Dublin in the green, in the green" to participate in Red Bull's "The Art of Can" competition in the fall of 2003, I decided to paint the town red with my new creation.

It's a simple piece made with used cans from local patrons of The Bank Bar in Newry.

While I cleaned the inside of the cans, I imagined their night out in the new city. Cigarette butts and a stale sticky residue (I never drink the stuff) provided clues to consumption and carefree conversations.

Awk, but the craic was ninety, surely!

This year they short-listed the entries. I was one of 50 selected. Didn't win. Must be that "Canadian art shite," as Hector Ó h’Eochagáin, a popular RTE TV host and contest judge, said to me on opening night, with a grin and an Irish twinkle. (I still hate you for putting him up to that Robert!)

And can you believe the look of me in this press clipping!

Attention artists: This is the problem with not photodocumenting your work properly. Digital photographs taken at the time were printed onto paper for my artist's portfolio. Did I keep the original digital image? No. I had to scan the printed copy for this site. Ugh!

The work is now part of Red Bull's collection. As a participant in the contest, I had to agree to give them the right to own the work and the right to use it for marketing and promotional purposes if they so desire.

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