‘The Wave’ by Mark Joyce
In 2006 a major public art commission was awarded to artist Mark Joyce. The project is funded through the Per Cent for Art scheme related to two capital construction budgets - the Southern Cross and the South Eastern Motorway funded by the National Roads Authority. The two schemes were pooled by Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council and South Dublin County Council.
This commission is one of the first works in a round of public art commissions which will be rolled out from 2008-2010 in tandem with the new Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council Strategy for the Arts.The artwork, entitled ‘The Wave’, was selected by way of an open submission 2-stage competition advertised widely, both in Ireland and abroad, which attracted a large number of entries.
‘The Wave’ is sited near the Sandyford interchange on the M50. The work consists of 250 coloured aluminium columns which emerge from the flat granite of the site
and create a wave of energy, with colours running from leaf green to violet on the visible spectrum. Seen from a moving car, the cluster of coloured lines will shift as the viewer moves.
Mark Joyce was born in Dublin in 1966 and studied at the National College of Art in Dublin and at the Royal College of Art, London. He has had several solo exhibitions, including regular ones at the Green on Red Gallery, Dublin and his work has been included in group exhibitions both in Ireland and abroad. Mark has been the recipient of a number of awards, including ones from the Arts Council and the British Council and is currently the Course Co-ordinator for the BA in Fine Art at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dún Laoghaire.
The artwork makes a bold statement on the motorway, located at the interchange at the Sandyford Industrial Estate and creates a notable art work that will serve as a welcome landmark for the Sandyford area.
