Andy Parsons: Wolf on Arm Residency
Wolfe Tone Pharmacy is no more - say hello to Wolf on arm!

The old Wolfe Tone Pharmacy which I have re-named Wolf on Arm, will be my new studio over the next couple of months, it will also be the new base for the Model Niland Gallery's youth arts project young model.

Combining a working studio with an education space is an innovative idea. I am not sure what direction its going to take my work in or what kind of work will come from the workshops and events we are going to stage, so its a leap into the unknown. Using a shop on a busy street puts the work of the artist and the educational work of the gallery into the public eye in an unusually up front way.

 

Why change the name 'Wolfe Tone Pharmacy' to 'Wolf on Arm'? Partly because I think its funny... and partly because the wolf represents pure wildness; something that is as out of step with our current relationship with nature as it is possible to be. Wolf on arm suggests nature biting back. Which it kind of is at the moment. Most of my work is about how we look at nature, so the name of the studio sets the scene for the sort of work I want to make over the next few months.
The first of work will be a life size (i.e. very big indeed) sculpture of a Columbia printing press with its trademark giant Eagle. The sculpture will be created alongside the production of woodcut prints in various sizes.

I am hoping that young model participants will be able to make prints as well and create a kind of workshop, making the most basic kind of art object there is. The press will be visible to passers by and I am hoping to use it and the whole set up of the space to pose questions about technology, the changing nature of art production and the value system constructed for art objects past and present.

Later on in the project I will be showing a set of acetate drawings completed as a postal swap with Tokyo based artist Hidehiko Ishibashi. The show will consist of multi ohp and digital projections.

As a finale to the project I will create a giant mountain to fill the space completely, the mountain will be inhabited by hoodies as well as eagles and wolves and will be the most ambitious of a series of installations I have created in Ireland since 2007.

Wolf on arm will be open on Thursday Afternoons and Saturday, or by appointment, or just drop in if the lights are on...