Positive Signs

Tonight Biffo, the man who plays the Taoiseach on TV, told us that the recession is going to blow over soon and that Ireland will return to growth, "even rapid growth", possibly next year. Maybe. Who knows? Stranger things have happened, right?

More on how ridiculous that is anon, that's not what this post is about. If there are positive signs in the economy, they are slight and our recovery will more likely be measured in years, five to ten, rather than the months Biffo would like us to believe. It's amazing what you can make yourself believe if you repeat it enough. Pity he can't convince the electorate.

While it's of little consolation to those losing their jobs and homes around the country in their hundreds of thousands, the common presumption is that the one positive aspect of our current situation is that sports and the arts thrive in a recession, even more so in an economic depression, which despite what Biffo says, is what we are actually in.

In the 80's and early 90's before we got completely up ourselves we had Jack's army, The Commitments and U2. In the noughties so far we have great Irish Rugby teams, world class golfers and...

Not another picture of Biffo in the nip (I'm not sure if any of us could take more of the furory that the last two caused), instead this time an artist called Padraig Parle whose work in Rathmines caught my eye. I don't know a lot about art, but I like what I see. For those short of sight, or suffering from my inability to conquer the sorcery that is digital photography, the piece reads;

"Caution Enter At Own Risk: Toxic Debt"

If Da Vinci's Mona Lisa gives us an insight into the life of the middle class in early16th century Florence through a portrait of the wife of a wealthy Renniasance cloth merchant, Parle's work gives us an excellent insight into life in the early 21st century in middle-class Ireland through the medium of banking. I could wax lyrical about the simplicity and genius of the work if only I knew all the arty words, but needless to say, it brought a smile to my face and if there's one thing that we need more of at the moment, it's happiness. It may be all that we have left.

As with all great work however, the brilliance of a piece often depends on context. Picasso's Guernica would not have been appreciated in Rennaisance Florence, but by the standards of it's time it is a masterpiece. The clincher for this piece, is where it was hung:

Yep, right next door to the Rathmines branch of Bank of Ireland. I don't know who you are or what you are Mr Parle, but from the bottom of my heart, thank you!