IMPORTANT IRISH ART · 27 MAY 2024 AT 6PM

116 82 Rory Breslin (b.1963) THE SEPTEMBER MARINE MASK bronze and stainless steel; (no. 1 from an edition of 3) signed and numbered on left side 26 by 17.50 by 7.50in. (66 by 44.5 by 19.1cm) The Clew Bay Marine Series are a collection of bronze ‘seascapes’, chronicling by season the wealth and variety of sea life in the Bay. A microcosm of the abundance and richness of Irish marine life and of our human relationship with the sea, the works celebrate the beauty, diversity and also the tenacity of life on our coasts. The latent energy that permeates the sculpture underlines that dynamic tenacity, pushing the techniques of bronze sculpture extensively to gain spatial and emotional tension and immediacy. With an abundance of energy a great Atlantic salmon arcs around the upper aspect of the sculpture. The sagacious fish of Irish legend that ate the nine hazelnuts from the well of wisdom cuts through the oscillating kelp this muscular and regal fish curves downwards mouth agape in search of prey. The furbelows the salmon swims through encapsulates the full work on either side, from the textured blades at the top to the frills and ruffles, designed to dissipate wave energy, at the base. From the forehead down, a clique of native oysters nestle between the countenance and the fish above. Ostrea edulis, an ancient human food source, fifty to sixty of which were reportedly eaten a day by Giacomo Casanova. The fish-nurturing egg wrack, feamainn bhuí, adorns the cheeks and a flowing shoal of sprat swims downwards from the cheeks of the adolescent eventually separating the kelps two holdfasts. €4,000-€6,000 (£3,420-£5,130 approx.) Click here for more images and to bid on this lot82