Luke Kelly, Guild Street

The Head That Stopped the City

Introduction

There is a second Luke Kelly in Dublin, and most people don't know it exists.

While the seated bronze figure on South King Street draws the tourist crowds, a far stranger and more powerful sculpture stands on the north side of the city, in the docklands neighbourhood where Kelly was born. It is a massive stone head, over two metres tall, mounted on a concrete plinth, mouth open wide in song, with a wild halo of patinated copper wire springing from his skull like something between an afro and a crown of flames.

The statue is located at the north end of Luke Kelly Park, near the junction of Sheriff Street Upper and Guild Street, Dublin 1. Multi-disciplinary artist Vera Klute was awarded the commission after a closed competition run by Dublin City Council. Both statues were unveiled on 30 January 2019 by President Michael D. Higgins, marking the 35th anniversary of Kelly's death.

The Sculpture

The pose is based on a performance of Scorn Not His Simplicity on the programme The McCann Man in 1974, with Kelly's eyes closed, immersed in the song. The sculpture is a marble portrait head, over two metres high. The carving of the stone head was completed in Italy and the hair is made from 4mm patinated metal.

The effect is extraordinary, especially at dusk and after dark, when uplighting turns the stone a warm gold and the copper wire hair glows orange against the sky. Your photograph captures this perfectly, with the rusted iron of the old docklands crane looming behind , the industrial past of the neighbourhood framing the singer who grew up in its shadow.

Klute said Kelly "generated a raw, intimate response , that's what I wanted to achieve. For me it's all about the face, the passion and the emotional connection. By stripping the sculpture down to just that and making this expression huge, I want to confront people with that energy and intensity."

The Controversy

The story of how Dublin ended up with two Luke Kelly statues is one of the more unusual chapters in the city's public art history.

Dublin City Council commissioned Vera Klute to design a monument, but an exception was made to have two statues after the Kelly family expressed their unhappiness with the original modern design. Separately, retired architect Gerry Hunt had privately commissioned sculptor John Coll to make a seated figure of Kelly for his Drumcondra garden. As it neared completion, he offered the sculpture to Dublin citizens via Dublin City Council. Hunt died before his Kelly statue settled into its home on South King Street.

So Dublin got both, one on each side of the Liffey, each completely different in character. John Coll's bronze on South King Street is figurative, warm and recognisable. Vera Klute's marble head in the Docklands is monumental, raw and confrontational. Together they say more about Luke Kelly than either could alone.

The Neighbourhood

In Kelly's day there was no Luas, no Convention Centre and none of the ziggurat-style apartment blocks that now overlook the location where he grew up. The youthful Kelly, though, might still recognise the rusted orange swing bridge across the Royal Canal and the spire of St Laurence O'Toole's church.

The docklands were working-class Dublin, the world that shaped Kelly's politics, his voice, and his instinct for songs that told the truth about poverty, injustice and resilience. Placing the sculpture here, in the neighbourhood where he was born, was a statement about where he came from and what he stood for.

Where to Find It

Luke Kelly Park, Guild Street / Sheriff Street Upper, Dublin 1. The sculpture is at the north end of the park, near the Royal Canal. It is lit at night and best photographed at dusk when the uplighting is at its most dramatic.

Did You Know?

The Luke Kelly bust has been vandalised multiple times since its unveiling , an unfortunate distinction it shares with the South King Street statue. Both have been restored each time. The persistence of the vandalism, and the persistence of the restoration, says something about how fiercely this city feels about Luke Kelly.

Nearby Statues

The Famine Memorial by Rowan Gillespie is a short walk south along the quays. The Linesman stands on City Quay nearby. We have a page for the South King Street Luke Kelly too — the two pages work as a pair.