(New) Studio G11 In 2002 I moved from Ireland to Leipzig in the east of Germany, and began working as an Artist in the Baumwollspinnerei, a centre for the Arts. Located in the west of the city in the former industrial quarter, it was once the biggest cotton mill in Europe. It was not long before I met Hendrik Voerkel from Leipzig, and Lexander Prokogh from Russia, both very talented painters. After a few years we formed the Art Group Gruppe 11, named after Gebäude 11 or Building 11 in the Spinnerei where they had their studios. In 2010 we decided to open a Gallery in Berlin in Landsberger Allee, to exhibit our work and the work of other international artists. I later moved on to Funkhaus in Berlin the old radio centre in the east of the city, and Schöneweide the former AEG Industrial complex, showing my work, as well as curating and organising many group exhibitions. In 2019 I decided to return to Ireland, to Bunclody Co. Wexford the place of my birth, and cont...
VEB NARVA LEIPZIG GDR (Manufactured 1960s - 70s) When I came to Leipzig in 2002 there were still many of the huge fibreglass street lamps in use in the city which were produced in the 1960s. On a cold damp foggy night the street scene reminded me of East Germany during the cold war - giving me a sense of the sinister and foreboding. Years later I met Herr Müller in Büschingstr Berlin where I was living. He along with a colleague was busy removing the lamps on our street and replacing them with the modern LED lamps. We were talking for a while about their work and I was asking what happens to the old lamps that are no longer in use. He said: Müll. Rubbish. Later he invited me to come out to his place the following Saturday. He would collect me at the railway station. So I got the train to Bernau a town circa 30 minutes north of Berlin, where he was waiting. We drove for about twenty minutes out into the countryside until we came to a small village, where we went...