I’ve known of Michael Kane since I was a small child - we lived on the same street, and his children and I went to school together. He was one of the founders of the Project Arts Centre, and I have a hazy memory of being brought there in its early days to ‘help’ my mother invigilate an exhibition. His can be quite an intimidating presence, so I was glad he seemed happy to let me make a portrait. He’s 89 and still making great work, with a current show in the Taylor Galleries alongside Brian Bourke, another seminal figure in Irish modern art.

From the IMMA - Irish Museum of Modern Art collection catalogue:

Michael Kane has been actively engaged in the politics of art-practice in Ireland since the 1960s. A member of the Independent Artists and founder of Project 67 (which later became the Project Arts Centre) he has been an uncompromising critic of injustice, inequality and ineptitude. He published and edited ‘Structure’ -a socio-political journal of art and thought in the 1970s, while continuing to promote opportunities for artists, and to create a large output of prints and paintings that can be characterised by their energy and the anger they so clearly express. The new urban realities that emerged in Ireland since the 1950s energised him, but recently he has returned to his own rural background for inspiration. He has remained steadfastly and often fiercely figurative, creating many archetypes of contemporary Ireland. #atelierhorgan

Shooting installation shots of the exhibition - behind the scenes images by my intern, Sara Pirani.