
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 Sandymount village Bloom offers condolences to Paddy Dignam’s widow. At sunset, he walks on the strand and is observed by Gerty MacDowell.
Gerty’s hyper-romanticism is conveyed by ‘Mills-and Boon’ prose. Visually, this translates into lurid colours and dramatic contrasts. The American painter, Lisa Yuskavage, has created such settings. Her sultry adolescent girls are totally uninhibited versions of poor Gerty.
I omitted the fireworks display – used by Joyce to mark the climax of Bloom’s activity – because patterns of sparks, against my livid background, had hardly any impact. Instead, I added poppies because they grow well in sandy soil, they balance the red of the sky … and they hint at the ‘narcotic’ fog about to envelop Bloom.”
Aidan Hickey