Joe Mcgill embodies all the characteristics of an artist. He is headstrong, intelligent and forthright. In conversation, he outpours his ideas on politics, religion, human nature and art with enthusiasm. He lives and works outside the art establishment and regards most of its rituals as frivolous or irrelevant. Sculptor, poetry, painting and performance art all form the body of his work, as he does not concentrate on any one media, preferring instead to let the idea dictate its manifestation. Joe regards himself as very fortunate in his career. His success can partially be attributed to being in the right place at the right time and meeting the right people. Unlike some artists, he has never solicited his work and relies instead on his talent and fate. He is not dependent on other people's approval to endorse his work, which ensures it remains uncluttered and fresh. The ideas for his work stem from his avid interest in current affairs and the dynamic of religious beliefs. Although he considers his life as a professional artist to have begun at thirty, he has been painting and earning money for his craft since the age of twelve. It was at this age that he met Seamus O’Coleman, one of the teachers at his school. Seamus was a successful artist in his own right and recognized Joe's talent immediately. However, Seamus did not provide Joe with art tuition and instead encouraged Joe's talent by giving him something much more invaluable. Self belief. Seamus was to be Joe's only formal education in art. During the eighties, Joe met the people who would shape his future. These people included, James White, Director of the National Gallery of Ireland, John Hunt, Administrator of the Temple Bar Galleries & Studios and owner of the Hunt Collection now in the Hunt Museum Limerick, John Taylor, owner of the Taylor Galleries in Dublin and Joe Masheck, the well known art critic from New York. Like Seamus before them, each of these people, recognized the immense talent in Joe's work, and were therefore eager to support him. In 1988, John Hunt gave Joe his first studio space in the Temple Bar Galleries (where Joe would stay for the next twelve years). That same year Joe had his first solo exhibition. He sold everything on the opening night. Joe Masheck was to further Joe's career in America by organizing exhibitions in New York. To this date, Joe's work is on permanent display as part of the Vera List Collection and the Joseph D. Masheck Collection in New York. His work is also on display at the University of Minnesota and Harvard University in Cambridge. Joe's work is very distinctive. He believes art should “stimulate and educate” and therefore “inspire its own interpretation”. He uses mostly “found objects” to depict his ideas. He likes to let ideas “float inside his head” for some time. The finished product will be the result of his “evolving thought process” and the right “found objects”. During my interview with Joe, he showed me many pieces. The first was a piece named “Guilt”. However, when he first placed the huge stone with a battered suitcase handle attached to its top in front of me, explaining its Zen origins, I was truly baffled. It was only when I was told its name, could I understand its brilliance. Secondly Joe placed a glass box on the table. Inside was what appeared to be a book ripped into shreds. In actual fact it was a dictionary. This piece, named “The Complete Works of Leonard Cohen” was inspired by Michelangelo’s hypothesis that any block of marble could potentially be the most fabulous sculpture. Another example was Joe's “Zen Cube”. This is basically a Rubic Cube except without the stickers, the idea being the player is never right but never wrong either. These examples give a tiny insight into the dynamic of Joe's work. They each deal with complex issues but break them down into a simpler and easy to understand format. They represent Joe's ambition to ensure the viewer can derive his/her own interpretation from the work. All artists aspire to communicate with their audiences but few do it with such clarity and achievement.

Natasha Smith