Lot 29: Diarmuid Delargy , b. 1958 Shark (from the Art and Extinction Series) oil on canvas, unframed

signed, titled and dated 07 on the reverse oil on canvas, unframed

92 by 183cm.; 36½ by 71½in.

The genesis for Delargy's interest in the shark as a subject was an incident when he noticed one of his children sketching the rugged shape of a shark's tooth. It prompted him to remember his own childhood fascination with sharks despite their universal associations with fear and danger. Through his Art and Extinction series, Delargy explores the changing complex attitudes towards sharks as in the present day, it is the sharks themselves who are threatened with extinction and his series has become 'a lament for the shark. He knows the danger does not come from the shark but from man...there is sadness behind the exoticism' (Dermot Healy, 2004).

Born in Belfast, Delargy studied at the College of Art and Design, Ulster Polytechnic and the Slade School of Art, London. He has had solo exhibitions with galleries including the Taylor Gallery, Dublin; Irish Arts Centre, New York and the Fenderesky Gallery, Belfast. His work his held in public collections including those of the Arts Council of England and Northern Ireland; The Ulster Museum, Belfast; The Douglas Hyde, Dublin and the Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin. He was elected as a member of Aosdána in 1999.