PHOTOGRAPHED AT CHRISTMAS 2019
The Mural is also known as "Fish In A Plastic Bag"
The mural captured in my December 2019 night photographs is not by James Earley (Inputout) as I had been lead to believe.
While James Earley did paint an earlier, celebrated full-facade installation titled Urban Expression on this exact building in the early 2010s, the artwork being painted in my December 2019 images is Climate III (often subtitled The Fish in the Plastic Bag), executed by the renowned Dublin artist collective SUBSET.
Documenting Bedford Row: SUBSET’s Climate III in Progress (December 2019)
Urban documentary work regularly records the layered sedimentary history of city walls. In December 2019, the Vincent Kelly-designed ESB Substation at the corner of Bedford Row and Fleet Street entered a new phase when the Dublin artist collective SUBSET commenced installation of their monumental environmental piece, Climate III.
Disentangling the Wall’s History: Earley vs. SUBSET
To understand the evolution of this corner, it is essential to distinguish between the two separate large-scale schemes that have defined the substation over the past decade:
James Earley’s Urban Expression (Early 2010s): Earley (Inputout), a prominent Dublin-born artist whose visual language is deeply rooted in his family's multi-generational heritage in ecclesiastical stained glass (Earley Studios) and his background in graffiti, painted an earlier scheme across these walls. His work was characterised by intricate figurative deconstruction, dynamic curving lines resembling lead came, and fragmented geometric fields.
SUBSET’s Climate III (December 2019 – November 2026): My December 2019 photographs capture the genesis of Climate III. Unlike Earley’s stained-glass abstractions, this piece introduced a stark socio-environmental narrative centred on the chamfered architectural prow.
Visual and Conceptual Analysis of Climate III
The design of Climate III made clever use of the substation’s awkward corner chamfer, turning the narrow vertical bay into a dramatic optical showcase:
The Central Motif: Rising directly above the double substation doors, the artwork depicts a translucent blue single-use carrier bag filled with water, inside of which floats the skeletal remains and fluked tail of a fish. The hyper-realistic rendering of crumpled plastic highlights themes of maritime pollution, single-use consumer waste, and environmental degradation in Irish waterways.
Flanking Compositions: Radiating outward along both elevations, SUBSET framed the central critique with bold, energetic graphic elements:
Down Bedford Row, dense zebra-striped semicircular arches and curving linework evoke rippling water, sound waves, and industrial contour patterns.
Along Fleet Street, rich swathes of peach, plum, yellow, and midnight blue wrap around the high steel-framed windows, anchoring the piece firmly within Temple Bar's chromatic streetscape.
LargeMuralChristmas2019-276512.jpg
The Installation Context: Capturing the work at night in December 2019 reveals the operational grit of urban art: temporary crowd barriers along the wet cobblestones, paint cans stacked beneath the chamfer, and the electric scissor lift raised against the facade as the artists worked through the winter cold to complete the upper elevations.
About the Artists: SUBSET Collective
Formed in Dublin, SUBSET became one of Ireland’s most culturally influential and outspoken urban art collectives. Comprising artists, designers, and film-makers, the group rose to national prominence through large-scale, thought-provoking murals addressing pressing social and civic issues—including the Irish housing crisis (Grey Area campaign), mental health awareness, and global climate breakdown.
Their interventions frequently sparked important public debates regarding Dublin City Council's strict planning regulations for public art, pushing the boundaries between unauthorised street art, civic activism, and sanctioned cultural landmarks.
The mural captured in my December 2019 night photographs is not by James Earley (Inputout) as I had been lead to believe.
While James Earley did paint an earlier, celebrated full-facade installation titled Urban Expression on this exact building in the early 2010s, the artwork being painted in my December 2019 images is Climate III (often subtitled The Fish in the Plastic Bag), executed by the renowned Dublin artist collective SUBSET.
Documenting Bedford Row: SUBSET’s Climate III in Progress (December 2019)
Urban documentary work regularly records the layered sedimentary history of city walls. In December 2019, the Vincent Kelly-designed ESB Substation at the corner of Bedford Row and Fleet Street entered a new phase when the Dublin artist collective SUBSET commenced installation of their monumental environmental piece, Climate III.
Disentangling the Wall’s History: Earley vs. SUBSET
To understand the evolution of this corner, it is essential to distinguish between the two separate large-scale schemes that have defined the substation over the past decade:
James Earley’s Urban Expression (Early 2010s): Earley (Inputout), a prominent Dublin-born artist whose visual language is deeply rooted in his family's multi-generational heritage in ecclesiastical stained glass (Earley Studios) and his background in graffiti, painted an earlier scheme across these walls. His work was characterised by intricate figurative deconstruction, dynamic curving lines resembling lead came, and fragmented geometric fields.
SUBSET’s Climate III (December 2019 – November 2026): My December 2019 photographs capture the genesis of Climate III. Unlike Earley’s stained-glass abstractions, this piece introduced a stark socio-environmental narrative centred on the chamfered architectural prow.
Visual and Conceptual Analysis of Climate III
The design of Climate III made clever use of the substation’s awkward corner chamfer, turning the narrow vertical bay into a dramatic optical showcase:
The Central Motif: Rising directly above the double substation doors, the artwork depicts a translucent blue single-use carrier bag filled with water, inside of which floats the skeletal remains and fluked tail of a fish. The hyper-realistic rendering of crumpled plastic highlights themes of maritime pollution, single-use consumer waste, and environmental degradation in Irish waterways.
Flanking Compositions: Radiating outward along both elevations, SUBSET framed the central critique with bold, energetic graphic elements:
Down Bedford Row, dense zebra-striped semicircular arches and curving linework evoke rippling water, sound waves, and industrial contour patterns.
Along Fleet Street, rich swathes of peach, plum, yellow, and midnight blue wrap around the high steel-framed windows, anchoring the piece firmly within Temple Bar's chromatic streetscape.
LargeMuralChristmas2019-276512.jpg
The Installation Context: Capturing the work at night in December 2019 reveals the operational grit of urban art: temporary crowd barriers along the wet cobblestones, paint cans stacked beneath the chamfer, and the electric scissor lift raised against the facade as the artists worked through the winter cold to complete the upper elevations.
About the Artists: SUBSET Collective
Formed in Dublin, SUBSET became one of Ireland’s most culturally influential and outspoken urban art collectives. Comprising artists, designers, and film-makers, the group rose to national prominence through large-scale, thought-provoking murals addressing pressing social and civic issues—including the Irish housing crisis (Grey Area campaign), mental health awareness, and global climate breakdown.
Their interventions frequently sparked important public debates regarding Dublin City Council's strict planning regulations for public art, pushing the boundaries between unauthorised street art, civic activism, and sanctioned cultural landmarks.
FISH IN A BAG MURAL