James Hanley

James Hanley has set the bar for the posters in 2010. We are honoured that he put so much time and effort into doing a poster for us.

Heres a bit about the process:

'One regular strand of my work is a series of images of statues that I draw, paint and photograph on travels abroad. Usually classical, I then make subversive additions that gently mock the pomposity of the original poses. I combined this personal style with the required details of the Flea poster, adding an immediately recognisable symbol of Dublin in the statue of Jim Larkin, the union leader, by Oisin Kelly. This hero to the workers was the obvious choice to hold the sandwich board which details the time, date and venue and also, happily, the map which could have been tricky to incorporate into the design. Here it also echoes the ribs/veins/arteries of the figure behind. Larkin holds two baskets, (the street trader) filled with an assortment of the knick-knacks, props, toys and stuff that my house and two studios are full of (I could start my own flea market from home). Larkin is painted, the basket's still lives photographed. In the distance I've put two of my other favourite Dublin statues with appropriate speech bubbles referencing both their places in history - the uncrowned king Parnell, brought down by the church over an affair, and the great Liberator Daniel O'Connell, teasingly portrayed with a sash - and referring to the Flea itself. Angels that I photographed in Madrid recently carry aloft the banner and planes that I shot (not literally) over Lisbon fly the flag for the quirky byline.'

www.jameshanley.net