This glorious diptych by Seán Mulcahy was acquired in 2012 by the Office of Public Works (OPW) for the collection of the Irish State. 

I had the privilege of representing Seán from 2011 to 2018 when he passed. A well-known structural engineer who boasted a prestigious career in building services engineering, his practice as an artist was minimally acknowledged in his lifetime. A very humble man, he was a gentleman and I miss him and his wife, the fantastic art historian Rosemarie Mulcahy. Both were friends and supporters of the Olivier Cornet Gallery, and good friends too. 

In 2012, Seán gave myself and my assistant at the time -the very talented Eliane Polek- absolute carte blanche to curate his solo show 'Placescapes' at my gallery, from the selection of the works to their presentation and framing as diptychs. The preparation of the exhibition, its promotion (in which Rosemarie played a very active part) and the actual opening were pure magic and a huge success, especially with this piece joining the OPW collection and so many others joining private collections.

What a great surprise and honour for the artist and the gallery when we heard in 2014 that Placescape VII had been selected to feature in 'Unfold', a touring exhibition curated by a group of young people. 

On 31 July 2014, Seán, Eliane and myself attended the opening of the 'Unfold' show at RUA RED (Tallaght). A joint partnership between the Office of Public Works and the Northern Ireland Department of Finance and Personnel in association with RUA RED South Dublin Arts Centre, 'Unfold' was the inaugural exhibition of the Young Curators project initiated by RUA RED.

It was lovely to hear all nine curators (Denis Burke, Gemma Butterfly, Sinead Byrne, Kevin Agnew, Maline Campbell, Rachael Kennedy, Lisa Burke, Shane Kelleher, and Martin Kennedy) and their project lead/facilitator Jane Fogarty talk about how they went about choosing the works. 

This was followed by the official opening at 6 when I was joined by Eliane, and Seán who was delighted to see his wonderful 'Placescape VII' in such good company: the show included works by Dorothy Cross, Nigel Rolfe, Richard Gorman, Basil Blackshaw, Ciaran Lennon and Paul Nugent to mention but a few of the artists.

It was quite moving to see Seán's work again, 'Placescape VII' being an all-time favourite of his late wife Rosemarie. It was also great to see Seán talking to the curators and other visitors about his piece. We found out that Seán's piece was a unanimous choice at the very early stages of the selection process!

The exhibition went then to Newry (Sean Hollywood Arts Centre) in September of that year, followed in October by its installation in Parliament Buildings Stormont (Belfast), before joining the Courthouse Ennistymon, in County Clare in December.

A beautiful (free) catalogue accompanied the exhibition, in which each of the nine curators commented on the works they chose, in a very personal (and refreshing) way.... We have a copy at the gallery. You can also view it here: Seán's work and a lovely commentary by Kevin Agnew appear on page 50-51.

On 16 October 2014, I drove to Stormont in the company of my friend, the arts writer Cathy Dillon, to attend the opening of the show there. We had a ball, it was great to see the show again in a very different environment, and getting a tour of the premises was a nice surprise too!

Seán left this world on the 17th of February 2018, a very sad day for me as I lost a friend as well as one of my artists.

In October 2019, I was delighted to hear that thanks to the Seán & Rosemarie Mulcahy Collection Bequest to the Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, Seán's 'Placescape IX' (which was also part of his show at my gallery in 2012) had entered the collection of a prestigious contemporary art museum in Ireland! 

Olivier Cornet, 4th July 2020.