{"id":86865,"date":"2025-10-17T16:03:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T16:03:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/86865\/"},"modified":"2025-10-17T16:03:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T16:03:07","slug":"meet-the-kilkenny-man-behind-irelands-most-talked-about-sculpture","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/86865\/","title":{"rendered":"Meet the Kilkenny man behind Ireland\u2019s most talked-about sculpture"},"content":{"rendered":"

Aidan Harte\u2019s first job within the art world was at Kilkenny<\/a> animation studio Cartoon Saloon<\/a>, where he worked alongside founders Tomm Moore and Paul Young.<\/p>\n

There, he created and directed his first animated television show Skunk Fu!, which first aired in 2007 and concluded little under a year later.<\/p>\n

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Aidan then went on to study classical sculpture at the Florence Academy of Art in Italy.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe type of sculptures I wanted to create were realistic, figurative work, and they don\u2019t really teach that in Ireland,\u201d says Aidan.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn Florence, they taught us 19th Century techniques. It was very rigorous; there was a lot of life drawing and we studied anatomy, how to sculpt the body from the bones up. We didn\u2019t cast or sculpt anything; it was all about the learning.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aidan describes the teachers in Florence as \u201chardcore\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThey\u2019re like samurais,\u201d says Aidan. \u201cA lot of art schools will encourage you to paint what you feel, but these guys are the opposite. It\u2019s \u2018make it correct or else\u2019. It was a great education!\u201d<\/p>\n

Aidan makes his sculptures from bronze, and uses a method called the lost-wax technique, which has been used in the creation of bronze artworks as far back as the Bronze Age.<\/p>\n

The first sculpture Aidan created was the P\u00faca, commissioned by Clare County Council. Inspired by the Irish mythological shapeshifter, the P\u00faca is a 2m tall statue, and depicts a human figure with the head of a horse.<\/p>\n

The P\u00faca\u2019s form changes from county to county; in Clare, the P\u00faca is believed to take the form of a horse, but Aidan wanted to introduce a human element to its design.<\/p>\n

The P\u00faca\u2019s design was met with controversy; a parish priest in Clare condemned it as \u201csinister\u201d.<\/p>\n

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\u201cPublic art puts you in the public realm, so you have to take the slings and the arrows,\u201d says Aidan.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wasn\u2019t too anxious about it; the only worry I had was that it wouldn\u2019t get cast, but we eventually sorted it out and moved it ten miles down the road; an Irish solution to an Irish problem!\u201d<\/p>\n

The P\u00faca is now happily ensconced in the Michael Cusack Centre in Carran, County Clare.<\/p>\n

Aidan\u2019s latest piece is a bronze bust of former Sinn F\u00e9in leader Gerry Adams; the idea for the bust came to Aidan in the run-up to the anniversary of the Good Friday Agreement.<\/p>\n

Aidan got to work with Gerry during their initial sessions in Belfast.<\/p>\n

\u201cI took his measurements, got an impression of his physicality and personality in the room, and I worked that into the finished product from memory,\u201d says Aidan.<\/p>\n

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\u201cA portrait sculpture wouldn\u2019t be my main thing. I much prefer classical figures like the Minotaur. There\u2019s always a big worry when sculpting a living person, especially such a well-known one. I spent a long time trying to get it right.\u201d<\/p>\n

Aidan believes that there\u2019s something special about a sculpture where the person has sat for it.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the same as an official photographic portrait,\u201d he says. \u201cThe subject is sitting there for so long that they can\u2019t really put on their best face; they sink into their normal repose.\u201d<\/p>\n

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