Rowan Gillespie (b.1953)

Titanica

Bronze mounted on steel from the Belfast Shipyards, 114.3cm high (45)

Provenance: The Eamonn Mallie Collection

 

Titanica (unique) was sculptor Rowan...

Rowan Gillespie (b.1953)

Titanica

Bronze mounted on steel from the Belfast Shipyards, 114.3cm high (45)

Provenance: The Eamonn Mallie Collection

 

Titanica (unique) was sculptor Rowan Gillespie's original maquette for a large work planned for the entrance to the Titanic Belfast building in the hugely popular Titanic Quarter in the east of the city.

Accident however played a remarkable role in the artist's eventual creation, presently located at the Titanic Belfast' building, Rowan explains: "This was the original maquette for Titanica with which I was happy. Then I was on a Ryanair flight to Glasgow and we got delayed. As I sat there I spotted the Ryanair logo on the side of the aircraft. "Oh my God" I said to myself - I have just created Ryanair's logo. As soon as I landed I phoned my website designer and told him to pull my image from the website. I felt I had to rethink my approach. I then changed the original figure to a horizontal orientation.

 

Thousands of visitors to the Titanic building have already seen a horizontal Titanica in situ but in this one-off creation we are meeting Rowan Gillespie's first born, christened Titanica.

 

Rowan graciously allowed me to purchase this work from him on a visit to his home in South Dublin.

 

 

Eamonn Mallie

 

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