Part of Aidan Hickey’s Ulysses series, which was exhibited in Zurich, at the UB Law, as part of the exhibit “James Joyce, Ulysses, and the Law” (April 15 to May 18, 2025).
“In this mid-way episode, Joyce assembles his characters and lets them ‘wander’ through the streets … It is a series of crowd-scenes superimposed on a city map. Adding to the complexity, among the attractions of that afternoon was an official visit by the Lord Lieutenant to a charity event in Sandymount.
My initial sketches for this vast subject were based on George Grosz’s drawings of street scenes in Weimar Berlin. But the Grosz style – which depicts Berliners as almost insane – could not reflect Joyce’s affection for his foolish Dubliners.
Thereafter, in the ‘dislocated realism ‘of later German artists – like Neo Rauch and Arno Rink – I found ways to hint at the frustration and veiled distress felt by the Ulysses cast, that afternoon in 1904.”
Aidan Hickey