I’ve known of the artist Michael Kane since I was a child - we lived on the same street, and his children and I went to school together. He was one of the founders of the Project Arts Centre, and I have a hazy memory of being brought there to ‘help’ my mother, also an artist,  invigilate an exhibition. I’ve long wanted to make a portrait of him - I tried once before in the 90’s, but wasn’t happy with the result. 

Michael had an exhibition earlier this year in the Taylor Galleries alongside Brian Bourke, another seminal figure in Irish modern art, and seeing him at the opening rekindled my interest. I’m very familiar with and appreciative of his work, and wanted to reflect a sense of it in the portrait - his portraits are often framed intimidatingly close to the subjects, and sometimes quite markedly off centre.

His presence can be quite intimidating itself, so I worked quickly, not wanting to waste any of his time. He was quite biddable, I even got a couple of laughs out of him, but I noted that when I said “we’re nearly finished” he growled back “and so is my patience”. He wasn’t being entirely serious, but I was definitely being let know my time was up. 

A few weeks later I made a couple of test prints, and dropped one in to him as a token of appreciation. I subsequently got a message from his partner Shelley, which said "Michael loves your portrait as do I. It has got an amazing response from everyone who has seen it.”

Shooting installation shots of the exhibition - behind the scenes images by my intern, Sara Pirani.