This bold design was inspired by people looking at art and he used fellow artist Frank Stella's notched "V", upending it to create a unifying and lengthy composition. The installation was designed to compete with the wear and tear of supermarket trolleys, bicycles and general traffic coming and going through the shopping centre. It is one of the first collections which led to Robert Ballagh being sought after for future commissions in the art world and galvanised his status as an artist as well as an illustrator.
The installation was gifted to Tipperary County Museum in 1992 and has not been seen in public for 27 years!!
The Project:
Conservation by Susan Corr & Noureen Qureshi. 10 out of 18 panels have been chosen for exhibition in the mall of the Showgrounds Shopping Centre. Each panel is cleaned in sections by swabbing with deionised water using hospital grade cotton wool. Deionised water has been purified of trace minerals and their ionising property attracts dirt making it a very effective cleaning solution.
Installation of the work:
Sven Habermann Conservator, Letterfrack, Co. Galway. Many decisions were taken to decide on its placement, height, spacing and the final finish of the panels.
