2010: ANGLO PICTURE PAINTS A THOUSAND WORDS. Irish Independent. August 28th, 2010
An artist who incorporated shares in Anglo Irish Bank into a painting has put it on display in a Dublin gallery.
The picture shows a forlorn Anglo Irish Bank investor slumped at the bar, with his shares spread before him.
Artist Frank O'Dea recently made an appeal through the Irish Independent for Anglo shares, which he wanted to incorporate into a work of art.
Worth €17 at their peak more than three years ago, the shares plummeted in value after the banking collapse and bailout.
O'Dea said he was shocked at the huge reaction to his appeal.
"People were only too happy to offload shares to me. So many in fact, I actually got more than I needed for my painting," He told this newspaper.
The resulting work, 'The Anglo Irish Bank Shareholder' (pictured), seen here for the first time, shows a disillusioned shareholder slumped at a bar ripping up his worthless shares. In an added touch, the interior of the pub in which the distraught investor is drinking is the same colour scheme used by Anglo Irish Bank.
Proceeds from the sale of the paintings, for which the Balla Ban Gallery in the Westbury Mall, Dublin, has already had a number of offers, will be donated to the St Vincent de Paul.