John P O’Sullivan visits the studio and home of artist Brian Bourke in the West of Ireland
On the eastern fringe of Connemara, north of Moycullen and west of majestic Lough Corrib, down some less-travelled roads, you will find the home of Brian Bourke and his partner in art and life, Jay Murphy.
The first artwork I owned, acquired back in the 1970s, was a lithograph, by Bourke, The Two Heads of Don Quixote. I have followed his career with interest ever since. These days he is a celebrated artist with a ready market. Further confirmation of his status came in July, when he received the James McKenna Award at the Gerald Manley Hopkins Literary Festival in honour of his lifetime achievements. But it was not always thus. Bourke remembers bleak years in the 1980s when he lived ‘half-way up a mountain in Connemara with no electricity or running water’. Bourke and Murphy had a new child and the Irish art market was stagnant. They were living on the farmer’s dole of four pounds a week: ‘walk four miles, take the money and walk back’. But just when life choices were being questioned, the Aosdána scheme was launched. Bourke was in the first batch selected and, crucially, qualified for the financial assistance, the Cnuas. Survival was ensured.
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