# The Prevailing Art Fund has funded its third acquisition



## Brendan Burgess (16 Nov 2020)

I have donated funds from the Prevailing Art Fund to enable the National Gallery of Ireland to acquire this piece from the Olivier Cornet Gallery. 






The Plants We Played With' (acrylic on Gesso panel, 134cm x 90cm, 2015)

Plant names:
Common Nettle _Urtica dioica_
Broadleaved Dock _Rumex obtusiflius_
Hogweed _Heracleum sphondylium_
Dandelion _Taraxacum officinale_
Common Poppy_ Papaver Rhoeas_
Daisy _Bellis perennis_
Ribwort Plantain _Plantago lanceolata_
Cleavers _Galium aparine_
Cock's foot _Dactylis glomerata_

The artist's description of the work:

Why is the piece a combination of drawing and painting?

Because memories can be sketchy, we paint them in our minds eye, we fill in the relevant aspects...

The painted parts highlight the aspects of the plants that were traditionally used in childhood games.

The composition helps to join the narrative for those memories.
For example the Nettle - dare to touch, is opposite the Dock - its antidote.

The Hogweed which made our pea shooters has the vetch entwined in it, the vetch pods contain the peas.

The Dandelion Clock is untouched - as time in memories standing still.

The startling red of the Poppy catches the eye. We made little fairies from the flower heads. Fairies are part of childhood imagination, fantasies, the past.

The Daisy, modestly hiding amongst the other plants has lost one petal, 'He loves me....he loves me not'. Who knows the future or the outcome of the game!

Plantain soldiers, we hit the heads off each others soldiers. Is this the last man standing?

The Stickies, or Cleavers have woven themselves amongst the plants, they do stick to everything with their little hairs. We used to throw them at each other.

The grasses with which we made whistling sounds are mingling in the field or hedgerow scene. Often sound evokes the strongest memories.

As children we roamed the fields amusing ourselves not needing anything more than our imaginations. I feel privileged to have had that freedom and still enjoy the occasional whistling grass to sound like a pheasant, or to blow the dandelion clocks to check the time.


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## Brendan Burgess (16 Nov 2020)

I have been a fan of Yanny's work since I first came across it, probably 20 years ago.

I was absolutely delighted to see the National Gallery of Ireland including two of her pieces, including this one, in their recent exhibition Drawn from Nature.

Before the current Director, Seán Rainbird, was appointed, the National Gallery did not buy work by living artists, other than portraits.  This policy seems to have changed and now a number of works by living artists are being acquired.

It's a great boost to an artist to be included in a public collection.  And to be included in the national collection is even better.

In recent years, Yanny's work has been acquired by
The Shirley Sherwood Collection in Kew Gardens
The Botanic Gardens Glasnevin
The National Museum of Ireland, and now,
The National Gallery of Ireland

You can watch Yanny at work here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_Q1oUI-aH24

Or visit her website here:

www.yannypetters.net


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## Brendan Burgess (16 Nov 2020)

Yanny is represented by the Olivier Cornet Gallery in Dublin which has a selection of original works and prints by Yanny for sale.

Hedgerow Stories from a Linear World  ( which got a great review in the Irish Times)

Come with me and I will show you something beautiful

Floral Alchemy


If you have a gardener in your family, you can buy one of Yanny's 2021 calendars (€20 including postage within Ireland)  or some of her greeting cards from her website  https://www.yannypetters.net/cards-and-calendars


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## Thirsty (16 Nov 2020)

@Brendan Burgess - are the National Art Gallery including a notice on how these items came to be donated?

It's a terrific example of community activism.


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## bungaro (16 Nov 2020)

Fantastic Brendan! Are the donations still coming in? Hopefully there will be enough to buy another work of art from our fund


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