Lot 166: John Coll (b.1956) RAFTERY, 1985 artist's label

John Coll (b.1956) RAFTERY, 1985 artist's label beneath base welded stainless steel on marble plinth 32 cm., 12.5 in. high born in Co. Galway, John Coll originally studied science, qualifying as a zoologist in 1979. However, he was always drawn to the study of natural forms, modelling animals in plasticine as a child, and a visit to a John Behan exhibition at Kenny's prompted him to consider sculpting as a career. After three years doing marine science field work along the shoreline at Carna, he enrolled in 1983 at the technical college in Galway to study art. Since then he has worked full-time at sculpture. His best known public commission is the bronze figure of Patrick Kavanagh, seated on a park bench beside the canal at Baggot Street, commissioned by ICI in 1991. He has also sculpted a memorial bust of Veronica Guerin for Trinity College Dublin and a life-size figure of Brendan Behan for Dublin City Council. He has had numerous solo shows with Kenny's in Galway, and another in AIB's offices in New York in 1998.