Art

LCA Homiés Pop Art Exhibition, Marbella, Spain / May 22, 2022 by PIGSY

A yellow background inscribed with funky writing and information about the new art exhibition in Marbella Puerto Banus in Homiés Art House in collaboration with La Casa Amarilla Gallery Malaga

LCA x Homiés Pop Art Exhibition in Marbella

Homiés Marbella Art House

What: Presenting the LCA Homiés Pop Art Exhibition

When: 1st of June 2022 to 30 Sept 2022

Where: Homiés Marbella Art House Gallery, Calle Ribera, Local 12, Puerto Banus, Marbella, Spain

Art Exhibition Opening Ceremony, Marbella, Spain

Wednesday 1st of June 2022 at 7pm

Homiés Marbella

On June 1 HOMIÉS ART HOUSE opens in the heart of Puerto Banus with Homiés Marbella and La Casa Amarilla Malaga joining forces to merge fashion and art in an incredible space in Marbella.

El 1 de junio se abre HOMIÉS ART HOUSE en pleno corazón de Puerto Banus Homiés Marbella y La Casa Amarilla Malaga se alían para fusionar dos pensamientos: moda urbana y arte en un espacio increíble en Marbella.

A painting about bullfighting by PIGSY where he has painted a gun in the mouth of the bull

The bull by PIGSY created his art residency in Malaga Spain La Casa Amarilla Galerie

La Casa Amarilla Gallerie expocision presenting the work of Irish artist PIGSY

“I’ve Given Enough”

My artwork “I’ve Given Enough” has been selected for this pop art exhibition in Marbella.

It’s an intensely vibrant piece of pop art that was created when I was resident artist in the studios of La Casa Amarilla Gallery in Malaga. The art work is an enquiry in to the Spanish tradition of bullfighting and I’ve armed the bull with a gun in his mouth in order to make the fight equal. See the video below which takes an indepth look at “I’ve Given Enough”.

Do call in to Homiés Marbella on Calle Ribera in Puerto Banus to see this art work……..and tell them that PIGSY sent you!

Custom PIGSY Nikes / April 12, 2021 by PIGSY

Air Jordan Flights custom painted by PIGSY

Commissioned pieces of art sure can be interesting!

I feel very lucky to have received some interesting commissions in my art career - one being the recent painted dinosaur head which I blogged about recently.

However, my latest commission is probably of the most interest to me - a customized pair of Nike trainers for a young break dancer. Very cool!

White Air Jordan Flights

Here’s the before pic of the Air Jordan Flights before they were custom painted.

Angelus Leather Paint

As a starting point, I needed to order Angelus Leather paint to customize the Nike shoes. I looked on Amazon initially but then I founded a company in Madrid who sold Angelus leather paint online. The paint arrived promptly considering I made the order over the Easter holiday.

Custom painted Nikes

And most importantly, what you’ve been waiting for, the finished custom Nikes by PIGSY!

The artwork is very connected to the client who commissioned custom paint job on these Nike trainers. Do you read binary code?! You may be able to figure out some of the messages!

However, the painted star is fairly easy to read on the front of the runners - it symbolises the stardom of the owner of the Air Jordans!

Personalized Nike Trainers by PIGSY

Invest in cryptocurrency or a pair of custom painted Nikes by artist PIGSY

Art and design Nike trainers are definitely not a non-fungible token

"I Went to Mass" - PIGSY Solo Exhibition in La Casa Amarilla, Spain / March 28, 2021 by PIGSY

LCA - Centro de arte y cuktura contemoranea en Malaga oatrocinado oir San Migue Cerveza - La Ca Casa Amarilla is Malaga’s premerie venue for contemporary art and culture

“I Went to Mass” by PIGSY

PIGSY Solo Art Exhibition

La Casa Amarilla Galerie, Calle Santos, Malaga

Date: 27 March until 20 April

PIGSY Spanish Art Exhibition Opening

Photos below are of the opening of the PIGSY solo art show “I Went to Mass” in La Casa Amarilla Gallery on Santos Street in Malaga, Spain, on Saturday 27th of March. The exhibition is running until an extended date of April 20th.

For opening hours and contact details for the LCA gallery, see here.

For more great pics, see here on Facebook

A focus on 3 works by PIGSY / March 9, 2021 by PIGSY

“Non-Serviam”

Hyper gestural original art, originally exhibited by PIGSY in London at The Other Art Fair

Size: 1500mm W x 1500mm H Mixed Media on Canvas

This piece deals with the contradiction between the refusal to adhere to society’s rules and the loneliness and helplessness that are a result of this refusal. “Non-Serviam” (I Will Not Serve) is a bold statement of non-compliance and self suﬃciency but looking deeper into the piece there is a call for help and the need for a guardian angel to save the artist. With the knowledge that almost every main character in Pigsy’s art is a self-portrait, there is the suggestion that the guardian angel required is his art and there exists a hope of self-salvation through it. Another clear indicator of the confusion caused by this paradox is the use of the word Malaika (an Islamic word for angel) on the angel’s chest, spelled wrong as Malaka (a Greek term for wanker).

“Mo Laoch” (My Hero)

Size: 1500mm W x 1500mm H Mixed Media on Canvas

It is a rarity that a character in a Pigsy piece is not a version of the artist himself but in this piece the figure is that of famous Irish writer James Joyce. The inspiration for this painting came after watching a documentary on Joyce and the realised connection between him and the artist's uncle, also James, whom he never met but who's house he now owns. Was Joyce talking about people like James in his celebrated novel Dubliners.

Could he have been a role model and mentor for Pigsy for he was also a poet and artist. The title "Mo Laoch" is Irish for "My Hero", a reference to the actual feeling for Joyce and the potentially stronger feeling for his uncle that, alas, never existed. Note that Joyce holds the red spelling book, Pigsy's nemesis, an item depicted in many of his works to signify his struggle with dyslexia.

“Cyberpunks”

Size: 1500mm W x 1500mm H Mixed Media on Canvas

“Cyberpunks” is Pigsy’s take on the movement formed in 1990, the beginning of the deep web and a decentralising power of the banks. The crossed out 72 is both a cry for admittance and a confusion that the artist’s year of birth predates the aforementioned formation- “I was a cyberpunk before it even started, let me in”. Note the signature in the painting in the top right is Pigsy in binary.

PIGSY welcomes visitors to his Malaga Studio / March 9, 2021 by PIGSY

Visit artist PIGSY in La Casa Amarilla

PIGSY Spanish art studio is located on Calle Santos in the centre of Malaga City close to Calle Larios

Maureen McDonnell of Stepstone Gallery, Dublin visiting La Casa Amarilla in Malaga Spain

During the pandemic Irish Artist PIGSY has been working full time as a professional artist in Malaga and is a resident in La Casa Amarilla Gallery. Pigsy’s studio is on the second floor of La Casa Amarilla which is a popular gallery in Malaga City Centre directed by David Burbano. The gallery is home to different sized art studios and hosts artists of various disciplines within. La Casa Amarilla is on Calle Santos a quiet street very near to Calle Larios and faces on to Cafe Aranda where you can stop off for a coffee and a churro after a visit to the studio. The cafe has been serving up churros since 1932 to the people of Malaga and visitors to this pleasant city!

Calle Larios, Malaga

The studio is a short walk from Calle Larios the main thoroughfare in Malaga Centro. Larios Street is a stunningly beautiful pedestrianised shopping street lined with attractive architectural buildings that at time will have you looking up rather than looking in the the shops! Most of the city is very walkable due to the pedestrianisation and also because of the size of the city which is very manageable for most to get about either walking or cycling - or you can rent an electric scooter too. The public bus is reliable and regular and can take you beyond the city if you wish to visit some of the small fishing villages along the coast (Pedregaleo is a must see), some of which are now home to chilled out fashionable, somewhat hipster, restaurants and cafes.

Art in Malaga

Pablo Picasso

Among the palm trees in Malaga City Centre, Irish artist Ciaran McCoy has rented an art studio where he paints his expressionist masterpieces

Malaga has a rich art history with it of course being the birthplace of Pablo Picasso. Today artists and art lovers alike flock to the city to visit the two Picasso museums - one based in the house he was born in and the other in the house he grew up in.

Museo Carmen Thyssen Malaga

Along with this there are numerous other museums with the Carmen Thyssen in the centre of the city (steps away from PIGSY’s studio) showcasing a massive collection consisting of classic Spanish artists including artists, such as Mariano Fortuny, Joaquín Sorolla, Darío de Regoyos, Julio Romero de Torres and Ignacio Zuloaga.

The Carmen Thyssen Museum has a really nice cafe and gift store. The cafe does a really good cup of coffee (cortado) and there is a good deal for breakfast of a mixto, coffee and a glass of juice for about 3 euro.

Pompideau Malaga

The Pomipou Centre also has a museum here in Malaga (the first Pomidou Centre outside of France). The Pompidou Centre is located down by the port can only be described as a jewel in the crown of the marina and in fact it looks like a jewellery box being a cube colored building designed by Architect Renzo Piano sparkling in the sun and inviting visitors in to an amazing collection of artwork including Joan Miro, Dali and you guessed it some Picasso too!

There are lots of nice restaurants situated down by the marina close to the Pompideau Centre Malaga so you can make a whole half day of your visit to the museum and a lunch by the marina along with maybe a walk down to the lighthouse.

The Pompideau Malaga is free in after 5pm on Sundays.

Museo Jorge Rando

Ciaran McCoy aka PIGSY surveys “Seven Spanish Angels” a massive artwork created by him in Spain

The Museo Jorge Rando reopened in Oct/Sept 2020 after renovations. It is located in an area that is a short walk from Uncibay Plaza is definitely worth seeing for both it’s extensive Rando collection and also the architecture of the museum with a spectacular corten clad courtyard out to the back of the building.

I visited the Museo Jorge Rando in October 2020 after it had reopened after renovations.

Malaga Studio Visit - Contact Enid

Contact Enid on pigsy.art@gmail.com if you are in the Malaga region and would like to meet PIGSY and take a tour of his studio and also visit La Casa Amarilla Art Gallery on Calle Santos, Malaga. PIGSY always enjoys visitors to his studio and will chat to you all about his latest work and what he is currently being inspired by.

Enid is also happy to give restaurant or cafe recommendations if you are interested in spending time in Malaga and want to relax over a glass of wine and some tapas after visiting the studio!

About PIGSY / March 9, 2021 by PIGSY

About expressionist Irish artist PIGSY

Irish Artist PIGSY

Born on the North Side of Dublin in Ireland, Ciarán McCoy is an Irish Artist and award winning architect (ODKM Architects). He borrows from his architectural knowledge to create his diverse expressionist art work as his alter ego “PIGSY”.

The mediums that Pigsy uses range vastly from everyday household acrylic paint, chalk, oil sticks,  acrylic sticks, oil paint, spray paint, charcoal  and any other medium that feels right at the time of painting. McCoy explains “I like the looseness of my paintings I don't really want to put boundaries on myself or to be neat and proper. That's my architectural life. I like to be able to express myself freely in a fast free-flowing loose way - I really like the imperfection of the process”.

Honesty & Emotion in Art

"Many of my paintings are self portraits or semi-biographical, I paint about the things going on in my head at the time of painting. People have said to me that the paintings are angry but I don't think they're angry, I'm just expressing the frustrations of someone who lives with dyslexia. Words frustrate me and fascinate me at the same time. I sometimes don't understand  the sounds of the letters, what they mean and why they don't do what they are supposed to do. Because of this I like to draw quick and loose as opposed to when I’m designing a building and it needs to be more rigid and consistent. I've also taken from street artists who have to paint fast.  I think if you're drawing fast there's an honesty to it because there is no manipulation and overthinking, it's just straight from your head onto the canvas. I love the no phoney approach to that". 

Mindset

This spontaneous approach takes away all inhibitions. "I deliberately don’t correct words that have been misspelled and I sometimes break them apart to emphasize what can be going on in my head”. He also splashes and spills paint loosely over the canvas which keeps the honest approach "for a long time I covered up the writing completely, so as to not expose myself too much to the outside world but as I got older I've stopped doing that.  I'm happy where my art is, at the moment, and  I feel that it's totally me. It's a take it or  leave it approach, I have now."

Art vs. Architecture

Live painting on the street in Kenmare for Culture Night in County Kerry

“Art is a way of expressing  myself and it’s a nice break from the normal day-to-day work  routine of an architect. The creative process between art and architecture are very different disciplines. With architecture I have specific briefs and goals that I aim to achieve. With art there are no boundaries, I just express what's in my mind at the time that I am working, and in all honesty, I'm trying to get the thoughts out of my mind and on to the canvas. I see it as a healthy process. Work and life can be stressful at times and I find going to my studio and throwing a large piece of canvas on the ground and painting helps me release all those stresses in a creative and positive way”.

Creative Process

“My technique normally involves a free flowing start to each piece as I set out the scene for the broader context of the work, followed by a slower, drawn out finish as I immerse myself into the painting and endeavor to elicit an answer to the conundrums that I face and to dig myself out of the holes that I've created for myself in my mind and subconscious”

Influences

PIGSY is influenced by artists, musicians, writers and other figures in popular culture. He sites being influenced by artists such as Cy Twombly, Purvis Young, Hawkins Bolden, Karel Appel, Jean Michel Basquiat along with enjoying the work of David Lynch, David Byrne and poet Seamus Heaney and writer Hunter S. Thompson. Musical influences include 1980’s old school Hip Hop along with musicians like Talking Heads, Future Islands, Elvis Presley and currently Fontaines D.C. and The Felice Brothers.

Ranelagh Art Studio

For the past 10 years, PIGSY has been working in his Ranelagh studio in his award winning architecturally significant house in Dublin, Ireland. His art studio is at the top of the house on the third floor and is filled with light streaming from four window lights that flood the birch ply wood clad room that has a glass floor (which he covered in a plastic coating to protect it from the paint!). It’s a light and airy space - the perfect place to create art.

PIGSY in Malaga, Spain

As of August 2020, PIGSY is based in Malaga, Spain with full focus on the creation of art. He has taken a sabbatical from his architectural practice and has embarked, with his wife and dog, on an uncharted year in Spain inspired by all of the artists and creatives that have gravitated to this part of the world before him. He is excited about the adventure ahead of him, where he will fully immerse himself as PIGSY - as a full time artist he knows that he is entering in to an immensely creative period of his life!

Art on Walls / March 9, 2021 by PIGSY

Art on Walls

Art and Interior Architecture goes hand in hand.

PIGSY contemporary artworks are bold and vibrant visual art pieces that enhance excellent interior design. Contact me directly to discuss your space and to talk about the many artworks that are currently available - or contact Designyard for further information.

In the home….and in the home office

PIGSY statement artworks spark conversation and inspiration within the walls of residential interiors. With the advent of Covid 19 and the evolution of homes spaces requiring a work space, PIGSY has seen an increase in clients contacting him for an art piece for the home office. PIGSY art helps create a positive and optimistic work environment. Most recently he has sold pieces which are now displayed internationally - Toronto, Canada and Galway, Ireland along with a piece sold in Spain - all three destined to be hung in the clients respective study rooms.

Home is where the ART is!

Art brings a feeling of well being in to lives. PIGSY’s expressionist art is a form of upbeat, positive storytelling and a marriage of color, poetry & edgy urban art. Art is a way to inject your personality and style in to your home with neutral walls crying out for a statement piece of art that appeals to the whole family. Something to note when choosing art for the home is that while color is very important it is not about matching colors to the home environment but instead it is about the colors complementing the environment.

See below for images of PIGSY artworks in their forever homes and discover the artist’s contemporary artworks and see how these works of art elevate and enhance inspirational interiors. Available in a variety of sizes and shapes PIGSY artworks work not only changes houses in to show homes but it gives each room a unique aesthetic quality that add to the enjoyment of home life for all of the family and for visitors to the home.

Home Art Gallery

Art shipping worldwide now you can buy contemporary art directly from the artist here in Spain and it will then be shipped to your home to hang art on your wall and make a house a show home with wall art that the neighbors will envy!

Art in the home also gives you the opportunity to express your personality and show off your style along with your likes. Many people choose not only to showcase single large proportioned artworks in their home but also to mix it up and have a bit of fun with their collections by creating a gallery wall. It can take some time and experimenting to get this looking right (but that is part of the fun!) and I like to map it out on a plan before the actual hanging.in order to prevent puttting nails in walls that are never used. There are also professionals who offer a hanging service who will assist with the layout as well as the hanging.

It also helps to frame you art in a similar style that gives the collection an overall cohesive look. Buying unframed art from the artist helps with this as you can then choose a frame that fits with the rest of your collection when the artwork arrives to your home. On the other hand, I sometimes specify particular frames for specific art works that I have created and each of my art collectors appreciate this as huge thought has gone in to the decision to frame the art and a lot of consideration has also been given as to what frame looks best and enhances the artwork.

Want to talk about art in your home?

Contact me directly to talk about your space and your likes and see if we can together find an artwork that works for you in your home. My artwork ships worldwide from both Ireland and Florida, USA.

PIGSY Art on walls

You can see more photos below of PIGSY art in situ in the homes of art collectors all over the world……and contact me today to discuss a PIGSY painting for your home!

Upcoming exhibition in Gallery X / August 22, 2017 by PIGSY

Group Show in Gallery X

The Cock & Pussy Manifesto

Currently I am working on my solo exhibition which opens in early October. My exhibition will consist of about 10 or 11 very large pieces.

If you can't wait til October to see my work you get the opportunity to see a small piece I painted that is part of a group exhibition that is opening in Gallery X on the 31st of August. See details of the exhibition here. Curated by Gallery owner Giovanni Guisti who explains that the art show “is meant as an attack on the shame that society makes us feel about what he believes are our most important bits” it features artworks by numerous artists of the male and female form.

PIGSY working on an artwork - creating a custom frame

The above pic is of me at work on the piece that I will be exhibiting. I am fabricating a custom frame for the artwork. The piece is a a take on Polaroid photos of a nude Jean-Michel Basquiat with me as the subject matter, go figure!

Gallery X is on 65 South William Street and the exhibition titled “The Cock & Pussy Manifesto” runs from 31st of Aug to the 22nd of September.

Gallery X owner Giovannu Guisti photographed by Laoise Neylon for Dublin Inquirer

Here’s a picture of the exhibition - you can see the PIGSY painting on the wall behind Gallery Owner Giovanni Guisti. This PIGSY is the male nude to the right of the photo.

Read a press report of the exhibition here.

Miro in Mallorca / July 11, 2017 by PIGSY

Miro Museum in Mallorca

Recently I visited Mallorca staying on Calle Mayor in an AirBnB.

We stayed in a stand alone unit that I rented through AirBnB. A few doors down from our rental was the Fundacion Pilar i Joan Miro which encompasses Miro's two studios and an art museum.

Miro Studio, Mallorca

The whole Miro Museum complex was so amazing that we visited 3 times during our week's holiday. It has an extensive collectin of Miro art and you can also visit the studio Miro painted in which is on the site as this was the original location of his studio.

Here's a pic to whet your appetite! If you would like to see more pics, click here to read Enid's blog.

A man dressed in a grey tshirt and blue shorts walks past 3 large blue colored Joan Miro original artworks hung on a grey shuttered concrete wall in the Joan Miro Museum and Studio in Mallorca, Spain

Where I buy my supplies.... / June 25, 2017 by PIGSY

Art Supplies in Dublin

In the past I have stretched my own canvas on to wooden frames. However, although cheaper than a ready stretched canvas, it is not one bit convenient. So currently I buy ready stretched canvas.

For canvas, I go to Evans on Capel Street.

My last expedition to Evans was on Saturday and I hired a GoCar van as the canvas I proposed buying would not fit in my Smart Car!!

Along with canvas, I buy oil sticks and brushes in Evans.

For other art supplies I visit Tiger and also sometimes hardware stores for domestic paint.

And finally I get my spray paint in All City Records where I have a browse at the vinyl when I visit which always makes for a fun trip that Enid likes to do with me.