Painting Ulysses is an exhibition based on the 18 episodes of James Joyce’s novel. The works, painted by Aidan Hickey to mark the 100th Anniversary of Ulysses’ publication, will hang in the James Joyce Centre, North Great George’s Street, Dublin, from February to June, 2022.
Since each of Joyce’s episodes was written in a different literary style, Hickey designed each painting in a different visual style. This exhibition responds to both the text of Ulysses and an eclectic exploration of European Art History.
Aidan Hickey studied at the National College of Art and spent most of his career drawing and writing animated films for Children’s TV. Always keen to tell visual stories, he worked in a Narrative style and searched for a suitable subject. And, about six years ago he found it, in Ulysses. Today, looking at the finished paintings, he says,
“Pictures can convey a lot of the spirit of a written episode, but very little of its true significance. That said, even if my paintings only hint at the novel’s wealth of comedy and complexity, they might, for a new audience, become a silent “Open Sesame” to Joyce’s treasure trove.”
