In the Frame: Niamh Caffrey

We are fortunate to have one of the most important corporate art collections of Irish and International contemporary art in Dublin. Included in the collection is "ZXX" by John Cronin.

Niamh Caffrey, Head of Tax and a member of our Art Committee, has chosen this piece as her favourite from our collection and she explains why:

"I was first drawn to this painting by its vibrancy, noise and movement. It is a contemporary and beautiful abstract painting in which the artist skilfully uses translucent pigments and light and dark, to create depth and camouflage.

Hearing the artist's inspiration for this work enhanced my enjoyment of it, so I will share it with you.

The painting is part of a body of work by John Cronin called "ZXX" which is the name of a covert typeface designed by a former NSA agent, Sang Mun, to avoid optical character recognition used in surveillance. Sang's idea was to obscure letterforms with various camouflages or visual noise rendering the message visually illegible to prying computer and cameras.

The painting depicts the artist's response to the use of AI, processing of information and surveillance techniques- all themes which resonate loudly today, both inside and outside the world of MHC. I hope you get to stand back and enjoy it.​​"

Support of the visual arts is a large part of our CSR strategy and we are a long-time supporter of "Business to Arts", whose aim is to broker, enable and support creative partnerships between business and the arts.