Pick up a piece of art by a Cork artist for €65 - which usually costs around €600

CALLING all art lovers that would like to support a worthy cause while taking part in Ireland’s biggest online art sale, with the opportunity of buying a piece of original art for a bargain price.

Now in its eighth year, the scheme, called Incognito, sees emerging and established artists, as well as celebrities, create postcard-size artworks that cost €65 each.

They feature a variety of media including traditional pastels, watercolours, oils, ink and charcoal, as well as felt, glass, ceramic, wax and wool.

The public can view the art online and choose their favourite pieces before the sale goes live on April 24.

It is only after buying a piece of art that the identity of the artist is revealed.

Money raised from the sale goes to the Jack and Jill Children’s Foundation which funds and provides in-home nursing care and respite support to families caring for children, up to the age of six, with neuro-developmental delay associated with a brain injury, a genetic diagnosis, cerebral palsy or undiagnosed conditions.

Also, the charity provides end-of-life care for all children up to the age of six, irrespective of diagnosis.

Cork painter, Tom Climent, is one of the artists taking part in Incognito. He has participated before and says it’s a great cause.

“I like the idea of it because of the anonymity of the art,” says Tom. “It brings more public awareness of artists and the work we make.

I have three pieces for sale at Incognito this year. They are recognisably mine. I’m not trying to trick people. I want to give people something that is of my work.

“Colour has become an important part of my work. It’s something I’ve learned to use by trial and error.

“I’ve always wanted colour in my work, but it has taken me a long time to be comfortable with it and in control of it.

“I use a broad range of colours. It changes. A lot of the work I would have done before was in earthy colours like orange and red as well as browns and blacks. Now, I experiment using the colours of the spectrum.

“What I’m trying to do through my use of colour is to capture light so that there is a sense of light emitting from the surface of the painting.

“I use quite a lot of bright colours in certain areas that create a kind of vibrancy, juxtaposing orange and blue, and red and green.”

A graduate of the Crawford College of Art and Design, Tom has been working as an artist for 30 years.

He adds: “Over my time as an artist, the work I’ve produced has been structured into groups of series of paintings. 

The current series is mostly geometric in nature and has an overall landscape structure to it. But it also contains softer textured pieces that operate as a complement to the more brightly coloured abstract ones.

“My work generally tends to be suggestive. I feel it absorbs places I’ve been to, experiences I’ve had, and ideas and images I come across.

“My process of painting embraces both logic and reason, and also chance and accident.”

Tom allows himself “to be guided” by each individual piece.

“The work itself exists on the borderline between abstraction and representation, but also between real and spirit worlds,” he explains.

“It allows for magic to have a role in creation. I want my work to operate as a doorway, to invite the viewer into a new space, to offer an invitation to journey.”

Incognito is, says Tom, a good way of buying affordable art.

“I always say to people to buy a piece you want to live with and will enjoy looking at in your house or office. Some people buy art because they think it’s a good investment. That’s valid as well. I wouldn’t dismiss that.”

As for the pieces that Tom is selling at Incognito, he reckons he would normally charge around €600 or €700 for each one.

It’s hard to say, but I usually price my work going by size. There are artists involved in Incognito who would charge a lot more than me for their work.

Among the celebrities that have taken part in Incognito in the past are Bob Geldof, Bruce and Pattie Springsteen, Bono, The Edge and Ronnie Wood. High profile artists that have sold their wares for the charity include Robert Ballagh, Tracy Emin, Helen Steele and Maser to mention just a few.

Tom will have a solo exhibition at the Solomon Gallery in Dublin in May. He regrets the closure of galleries in Cork around the time of the recession, including the Vanguard and the Fenton galleries.

“Nothing has replaced them,” he says. “The Lavit Gallery is still going and is a great place for artists at all different stages in their careers.”

With a studio in Cork city, Tom says he is lucky to be able to work full-time as an artist, explaining: “I kind of need the pressure of doing it full-time.”

But, he says, art as a career “is not something I’d recommend to anyone. It’s a thing where you have no choice. But you’re always looking for people’s approval. Trying to get the work out in a public space is difficult. You need to be quite self-disciplined and motivated. It’s a hard thing to stay at over a long time.”

But the artist’s life suits Tom. “I like the solitary aspect of it. I like working on my own. I suppose I like my own company,” he says.

To register for Incognito, see www.incognito.ie.

 For more information on the Jack and Jill Foundation, go to www.jackandjill.ie.