Irish sculptor Tom Bevan came to New York in 1993 for a year-long PS1 residency. A noted sociopolitical artist who had engaged with the Troubles in Northern Ireland, he was a major presence in exhibitions, catalogues, books, and articles, including my own Directions Out in Dublin (1987), Art Politics and Ireland (Open Air, Dublin 1989), and Parable Island (Bluecoat Art Gallery, Liverpool 1990). Typical of Bevan’s early works, the “Guns” series-The Sensual Qualities of Weaponry (1989-90)-consists of nine different weapons sculpted out of wood and decorated with stenciling, pinups, glass, and paint to clearly equate the allure of guns with the allure of sex. His masterpiece, Nothing is Lost (1989-90), is a huge diarylike work of 365 small boxes, one for every day of the year, that reflect on what was happening to him on a personal level as well as politically in the public sphere. This aspect of his life culminated with a retrospective at the Arts Council Gallery in Belfast (1993). …see the entire article in the print version of Jul/Aug’s Sculpture magazine.
