Adam's IMPORTANT IRISH ART 27 SEPTEMBER 2023

www.adams.ie Important Irish Art | 27 September 2023 45 32 ROWAN GILLESPIE (B.1953) The Kiss (1990) Bronze, 41cm high (16”) on a circular limestone base Signed, dated 1990 and numbered 8/9 Provenance: Sale, these rooms 3/12/2008, lot no. 77, where purchased by the current owners € 15,000 - 20,000 ‘Three sculptors were commissioned by architects Burke-Kenne- dy Doyle to produce a sculpture each for the new complex oppo- site the Concert Hall in Dublin. As Rowan was driving past the site one day he saw a young couple kissing. A simple kiss therefore provided the inspiration for what has since become an immense- ly popular public sculpture. The pedestal is only slightly raised above the ground, so that the figures may more readily be iden- tified by their fellow man. The lips do not quite touch, creating the deeply personal space of a shared breath. Khalil Gibran’s book ‘ The Prophet ’ was foremost in Rowan’s mind as he portrayed two people growing together gently like the trees in a forest, in stark contrast to ‘The Lovers’ , Edvard Munch’s aggressively violent kiss in which the vampire-like girl virtually consumes her beau in a frenzy of passion.’ Extract from Rowan Gillespie; Looking for Orion, with thanks to the artist.