The story behind Stoneybatter's latest street art
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When these lads appeared over a wall on Manor Place last week, they sparked conversation both on social media and down the local pub. If you had asked me who created that piece of street art depicting Travellers across from Maureen's shop in Stoneybatter, my first guess would not have been a Japanese artist. But it turns to be the work of Shota Kotate, who moved to Dublin from Japan to study in 2004 and never left. Shota has been living in Stoneybatter with three pals - who call themselves MSB or Manor Street Boys - for the past year and a half.
He has kindly written for the On the Batter, explaining the three main reasons he created the art work:
1. My passion towards DIY and the wall needed some sort of fence.
As I was a sculpture student, I love making stuff. Since we moved in, I have made a shoe rack, curtain rail, shelf, speaker shelves, and a shelter for the back yard. A few months ago, my bike was stolen from our back yard and, a few weeks later, my good sports jacket. It was all caused by having no proper prevention on our wall facing Manor Place.
As Maureen sometimes told us, some people climb up and look inside to see if there are any valuables to steal. We discussed about having broken glass, but that's illegal to do. We also thought about spreading grease, but then stray cats can't come into our back yard anymore, so we had no good idea about it. Then I suddenly came up with this idea of having some sort of art work. It could be replicating a Super Mario stage or something like that, but I came up with having Travellers on it and making them say something.
2. Interest, respect, and love towards Travellers and their bareknuckle boxing culture.
It was a huge sensation when the video of Davy Joyce replying to Simon O'Donnell came out on YouTube. All the lads in college were talking about it and that was the first time I discovered these Travellers and baraknuckle boxing culture. Everyone thought it funny that these big muscly lads were ranting on each other through the video and they send it to each other to organise a fight. Also, the words they used in the video were funny as well. I found it funny as well, but I found it more like I found a true Irishness in them. They never accept their defeat, they use a lot of unique words to describe something which can be described in a few words like "Here, I want to fight with you on this date, this place", rather than shouting at each other how they are shit and all. I guess such garrulity is something that only Irish people can have. Moreover, these boxers have unique characters themselves.
A Japanese art group from the 1950s called GUTAI is one of the only such groups that became well-known overseas. And the reason they were huge is because they do stupid and meaningless things very seriously. I find Travellers kind of the same. They are doing something that looks stupid to people outside their community and culture, but they're doing it really seriously. That's why I love them and respect them.
3. My art statement
The main theme of my art at the moment it to commit to Irish society and scoop up things I like and translate it through my view as Japanese and share with society. I believe contemporary art is the art for people living now, not for posh art collectors or investors. In my case, I have received Irish education for over eight years. And I think it's my duty to return what I received to the society (well, I paid a lot of money for fees though). I learned art, so I return what I received by suggesting my views towards things happening in Ireland with art form. That's why I chose these Travellers as the subject for the cutout fence. Of course, it's not a serious message or anything, but I just want to give my local a little twist and fun.
How I did it
We collect scrap materials from skips and we have bunch of good MDF boards and timber sticks in the back. I just cut them out in sections, screwed them together and painted with acrylic paints. The speech bubble part is attached with bolts and nuts, so I can take it off and write something else, like I can write Christmas stuff when it's near. The reason why I made them say directions was that I thought that would make these cutouts OK to be there. I could write something different, but I didn't want to make any trouble. So, you will see them saying something different in each season or if there's any event.
You can find more of Shota Kotate's work on shotakotate.com.