Irish illustrator Joe Caslin has just completed a two-mural campaign this spring in Dublin’s city center on the side of a castle in Co Galway in support of this May’s country-wide same-sex marriage referendum. At the end of decades of activism by many in the LGBT community, these giant murals may have helped to sway the outcome – they certainly resulted in a lot of attention on social media and even the front page of the International New York Times.
Joe Caslin. The Castle. Detail. Caherkinmonwee Castle. Galway, Ireland. (photo © Gavin Leane)
The image on the side of the seven story Mercantile building was inspired by Meeting on the Turret Stairs, the sorrowful passing of unrequited lovers depicted by Fredric William Burton’s in his1864 painting. Wind and rain quickly damaged the pasted paper version of his hand-drawn illustration, but not before it was recorded and parlayed across mobile devices and television screens.
Joe Caslin. The Castle. Detail. Caherkinmonwee Castle. Galway, Ireland. (photo © Gavin Leane)
Far away from the city and surrounded by cows grazing in bucolic pastures, Caslin’s second illustration, this time featuring two lovely young women in an embrace, was affixed with potato-starch based paste onto the façade of a grand structure, the Caherkinmonwee Castle in Co Galway. If you were looking for a more fitting frame for your portrait, you would be hard pressed to beat this one and Joe once again proves that location and context is king (or queen).
Joe Caslin. The Castle. Detail. Caherkinmonwee Castle. Galway, Ireland. (photo © Gavin Leane)
Joe Caslin. Drawing for The Castle. (photo © Joe Caslin)
Joe Caslin. The Castle. Caherkinmonwee Castle. Galway, Ireland. (photo © David Sexton)
Joe Caslin. Equity. Process shot. Dublin, Ireland. (photo © Peter O’Dwyer)
Joe Caslin. Equity. Process shot. Dublin, Ireland. (photo © Peter O’Dwyer)
Joe Caslin. Equity. Process shot. Dublin, Ireland. (photo © Peter O’Dwyer)
Joe Caslin. Equity. Process shot. Dublin, Ireland. (photo © Peter O’Dwyer)
Joe Caslin. Drawing for Equity. (photo © Joe Caslin)
Joe Caslin. Equity. Dublin, Ireland. (photo © Peter O’Dwyer)
Other Articles You May Like from BSA:
Urban Nation’s fallen angels looked appropriate as this weekend Berlin commemorated the 30th anniversary of the fall of the wall. Outings Project for Urban Nation Museum Berlin. (photo © Jaime Ro...
A welcome and necessary addition to any graffiti academic’s library comes Urban Styles: Graffiti in New York Hardcore, carefully documented by Freddy Alva. A thorough recounting of the birth and grow...
Across the US today families are joining together/avoiding each other for Thanksgiving in a spirit of gratitude. For those who are afraid to have potentially firey political conversations at the din...
We always say that Street Art reflects us back to ourselves and during a recent trip to the streets of Barcelona we found some great examples of regional traditions that build community and celebrate ...
An amorphous shape-shifting consortium of Berlin-based aerosol hooligans named 1UP is one of those graffiti crews who eventually make the entry into graffiti street lore because of the scope and darin...