Dorian Gray

The 2010 choice for One City One Book is Oscar Wilde’s famous story 'The Picture of Dorian Gray'. In conjunction with the initiative Dublin City Library & Archive, Pearse Street, is hosting a display to honour this work. The exhibition was recently launched by the Lord Mayor of Dublin, Councillor Ms. Emer Costello with Mr. Merlin Holland, grandson of Oscar Wilde in attendance along with many fans of Oscar Wilde's work.

Yellowstone Ltd designed the exhibition and informative graphic panels which aim to explore the background and inspiration for the book. Poster Mania was commissioned to Project Manage the exhibition for Yellowstone and to produce and install the graphic panels, bespoke curtains, props and free standing displays. Along with these, the exhibition includes works by contemporary artists and students from NCAD and a digital representation of the picture of Dorian Gray which mysteriously ages before your eyes.

The project consisted of a number of unique requirements, one of which was to produce bespoke curtains. These were specially printed to match the curtains described in the book “....and now and then the fantastic shadows of birds in flight flitted across the long tussore-silk curtains that were stretched in front of the huge window, producing a kind of momentary Japanese effect...”

The curtains were required to be 5 meters X 7 meters and were to cover two Georgian style windows from floor to ceiling. The fabric was digitally printed by Poster Mania on a Roland printing machine from designs supplied by our client. The material specified needed to create the required translucent effect which would allow light to shine through resulting in a soft and relaxing atmosphere. When printed, the large roll of material was entrusted to the finishers to match the prints and a machinist created hanging loops to facilitate the soft fall of the fabric to the ground.

All the exhibition panels were again printed in-house and then laminated and wrapped on rigid substrate. This facilitated the free standing displays required for the exhibition. The use of a gripping tool allowed the panels to be displayed in precise locations to create a story trail and also allowed panels to be displayed in a circle around a column in the middle of the room. The method is a visually effective and cost efficient medium for displaying graphics and information.

Stage props were built to order and the unit to support the Digital TV screen needed to be manufactured to precise specifications to fit in with the display. This mysterious aging portrait of Dorian Grey shows the painting growing old while, according to the story, Dorian Grey remains youthful. The prop included a picture frame to hide the digital screen surround and had curtains draped over the frame giving the impression that the image was being hidden and had been exposed accidentally. Roller banner stands were also used in the exhibition to explain the displays. Installation was provided by Poster Mania.