Little Interview

Over the last number of years, we have interviewed diverse members of the Glucksman community - artists, academics, staff members, guests, audiences and workshop participants. The responses are funny, inspiring, revealing and always a great read.

This month, we hear from artist Damien Flood, whose work Antecedent (2025) is currently on display as part of our exhibition Domain of the Dinosaurs. 

What are you reading?
I’m currently reading Willy Vlautin ‘The Motel Life’. A very enjoyable book recommended to me by a fellow artist.

Favourite museum?
Musee d’Orsay in Paris. For many reasons over years but especially because this is where I discovered Manet’s Deathbed Bouquets while on residency at Centre Culturel Irlandais in 2018. This was a transformative experience for me and changed how I painted from then on.

Best performance?
This is a big question but if I go with my gut, it must be Devo in Vicar Street in 2007. Never thought I’d get to see them, and they lived up to and beyond expectation. I also got to meet them in the bar afterwards and they were true gents.

Most treasured possession? It’s probably my black and gold Cross pen that my partner bought me two years ago as a surprise gift as I was going through mortgage woes. I had hoped to sign the mortgage papers with it but as it turns out that’s not a thing. It’s just a depressing email you get a week after you agree on the contract. But the pen means the world to me and brings daily joy.

Work(s) of art that inspire you?   This is an even bigger question. Anything by Wilhelm Sasnal. Manets Deathbed Bouquets and his work Red Room, Harmony in Red -this work never really leaves my head. The work of Rose Wylie. I love the work of Norbert Schwontkowski but there is a work by him that I don’t think I know the name of. It’s of a giant eyeball on a chair. I came across it in a group show I was part of in Berlin around 2013/14. It stuck with me and resurfaces every few months. The works of Robert Gober, Guston, Courbet, Bosch, Edvard Munch…. Too many.

A lightbulb moment?
That it’s ok for painting to be beautiful. When I went through Art college graduating in 2003 the prevailing sentiment was not only why would you paint but also if you did it had to be ugly, muted and serious. For some reason in Ireland beauty in painting has been equated with a lie or lack of depth.

Guilty pleasure? Golden Nuggets.

What would you like to be doing right now? Painting. Typing is not as fun as painting.