Mysterious mooves in Laois as Cow Village opens
One of the superb images from the Cow Village exhibition shows a cow watching the Electric Picnic from a distance during last year's music festival in Stradbally. Photo: Stan Henderson
A QUIET moovement has taken over the heritage town of Abbeyleix, transforming the library’s gallery and its huge bay window into an art mystery.
An extraordinary photographic exhibition titled Cow Village is currently on display but, like Banksy, the artist has gone fully incognito.
In a moove echoing the world's most famous elusive street artist, this local photographer has gone entirely undercover and has chosen absolute anonymity over personal fame, earning them immediate status as Laois’s answer to Banksy.
The shadowy figure has left the town gripped with a thrilling whodunit, so visitors may walk through the library doors not only as art lovers but as sleuths too.
While viewing the superb pictorialism photographs they will most likely scan the room, wondering if the quiet person admiring the frames next to them might actually be the mastermind behind the lens!
The had an exclusive but brief chat with the photographic artist, due to our regular coverage and promotion of artists and their works from all around the county and further afield.
The artist behind the wonderful exhibition said: “I have chosen to keep my identity hidden in an effort to ensure these images of the residents of Cow Village remain at the forefront of the Gallery.
“My art is taking pictures of cows out in nature in Cow Village and making them as human as possible. The cow embodies a calm, peaceful existence. Cows are by nature mysterious, curious and quirky animals and my photography aims to bring the cows to life.
There is no such thing as perfection in taking a photograph, but there certainly is a lot of happiness in taking one. Taking pictures of the cows in Cow Village brings me joy, peace of mind and solitude with my camera.”
The anonymity shouldn’t be seen as a marketing trick, rather it serves the exhibition itself. Once the viewer looks past the drama of the hidden identity, they’re hit by the sheer brilliance of the work.
At first glance, the photographs look like incredibly detailed and finely penciled sketches. The focus of all 20 pieces is the humble cow but, under the gaze of this anonymous creator, these familiar animals are lifted into wonderful soulful characters. Every hair on a hide, every curve of a horn and every look from an eye is captured with excellent precision. This combination transforms the exhibition into an astonishing optical illusion.
While the brain is looking at a masterclass in drawing, it is only upon looking much closer that you realise it is the result of a flawless avant-garde photographic technique. By stripping away their name, this photographer forces the viewer to focus entirely on the raw beauty of the images.
This exhibition proves that world-class thought-provoking art does not always belong to elite urban galleries in faraway cities but sometimes is quietly installed on the walls of your local library. In short, Cow Village is a triumphant mix of rural Irish heritage, amazing visual trickery and intoxicating mystery.
So, now that Laois has its very own Banksy, the search for the person behind the lens and ‘Chinese whispers’ have no doubt begun, along with speculation on the location of Cow Village itself.
Staff members at Abbeyleix Library confirmed that hosting an incognito artist’s exhibition is a first for them and added that they strongly encourage people to visit the library and view the “super exhibition”. The display remains on show for the month of August.
More photographs of Cow Village can be found on Instagram by searching Cows of Ireland, where direct messages can be sent.
