Cork-based artist Michael Quane’s sculpture of a life-sized diving figure has finally been installed in the Farmgate Café. Suspended from a structure in the space, it hovers above the fountain area of the English Market. Made out of timber with a coating of graphite used for the wetsuit, armbands for a touch of levity, and a long pair of flippers, it was supposed to have been installed in 2019. Unfortunately, covid and the bureaucracy surrounding a public-space project delayed the installation. But it is worth the wait.
Quane, best known for his eye-catching stone sculptures of the human form connecting with quadrupegs (such as Fallen Horse and Rider in Midleton, Horses and Riders at the Mallow roundabout, and Figure Talking to a Quadruped at UCC), says working with timber freed him hugely.
“I can do different things with timber such as having arms outstretched,” says Quane. “I thought it was going to be a new departure for me. I have a number of blanks made up of timber, glued together with subjects in mind. But I haven’t executed those yet; I’m too busy doing other things.”
The figure, entitled Carbon Sync (a play on carbon sink), is made out of elm. “An elm tree had fallen in the graveyard near where I live so I used that. It was an idea I had. I’ve always been working with buoyancy. I studied science when I started out [for a year at UCC before switching to art at the Crawford College of Art and Design]. That has informed an awful lot of what I do. My interest in science comes from curiosity really, questions about the world. It’s something I’m still interested in. I read more science than I do art. I think science is crucial. It gives me a perspective on the universe.”
There are a lot of threads running through Carbon Sync, says Quane, such as global warming, rising sea levels – and a little bit of whimsy. As an artist, he feels a responsibility to highlight issues that affect us all. “I suppose all thinking comes from our cultural identity and that is contributed to endlessly by artists, writers, poets. The thing is trying to get people to change their minds. I do have faith in humanity but I don’t think that in the next 200 years, there is going to be much in the way of a reversal.”
Does he believe the climate crisis is going to keep on worsening? “I think humanity is infinitely inventive and creative – and eventually, solutions will come. At the moment, you have a clash between consumerism and common sense. The forces of consumerism are still about pushing and buying, buying. It’s very hard for that to stop because businesses all over the world would go out of business.”
In the midst of all this, Quane says that working mainly in a Stone Age material, “I often feel like a Stone Age Man.” He likes working on his own, and has been putting in ten-hour days for the past ten months working towards his current exhibition, Belonging, at the Solomon Gallery in Dublin until October 19.
Quane and his wife, artist Johanna Connor, live in a former church just outside the village of Coachford in Co Cork. They renovated the 19th century building from where he and his wife work in their studios and where they have an exhibition space. The couple will have a joint exhibition at the Lavit Gallery next year.
Rebecca Harte, who runs the Farmgate Café, is delighted to welcome the fourth Michael Quane sculpture into her popular eatery.
“For me, this connects back very much to my aunt, Maróg O’Brien [who runs the Farmgate in Lismore] and my mum, Kay Harte [retired from the Farmgate Café in the English Market]. They see the importance of art and writing and how it should coincide along with commerce and that exchange across the community. We can’t just live on commerce alone.” Harte’s customers are drawn to Quane’s sculptures, in particular The Standing Bitch, beside the till. It’s a female dog, standing upright on her hind legs.
“Kids are fascinated by it. You can see that the nose has a different patina. It has gone a dark grey from people touching it, particularly children.” Harte hopes the public will enjoy Carbon Sync. “It points to the times we live in. And people don’t have to come up to the café to enjoy it. You can see it walking through the market.”
