Michael Warren

Michael Warren (1950 – 10 July 2025) was an Irish sculptor who produced site-specific public art.

Warren was born in 1950 in Gorey, County Wexford, Ireland. Inspired by Oisín Kelly, his art teacher at St Columba's College, Michael Warren studied at Bath Academy of Art, at Trinity College Dublin and, from 1971 to 1975, at the Accademia di Brera in Milan. He last lived and worked in Co. Wexford.

He had a number of very visible works in Ireland, including the large sweeping wood sculpture in front of the Dublin Civic Offices. Wood Quay, where the civic offices stand, was the centre of Viking Dublin and the sculpture evokes the form, and the powerful grace, of a Viking ship. It also reflects vertically the horizontal sweep of the nearby Liffey as it enters its bay. A complex balance of meanings matching a delicate, though massive, balance of substance is typical of his work. Warren himself described the useful ambiguity of abstraction (Hill 1998).

With Roland Tallon he created Tulach a' tSolais (Mound of Light), a memorial to the 1798 rebellion at Oulart Hill, County Wexford. Here, a room was hollowed out of a small hill; the room contains two abstract curved oak forms and is illuminated by natural light falling through a long slot in its ceiling and walls. Despite the unusual and abstract constitution of this memorial and despite the fraught political resonance of the rebellion, Tulach a' tSolais is popular and something of a local attraction. His Gateway in Dún Laoghaire was less popular with some local people and it was eventually removed and returned to the artist.

At the northern entrance to the village of Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, is a sculpture by Michael Warren, depicting the thrones of the ancient seat of the Kings of South Leinster at Dinn Righ (The hill of the Kings). The Kings of Leinster lived near the village.

He died on 10 July 2025.

Work on display Cloch na gCoillte (2013) Clonakilty, County Cork, Ireland Unbroken Line (2013) Dublin Castle, Dublin, Ireland Antaeus II (2010) Scott Cottage, Rossdohan, County Kerry, Ireland Janus (2010) Western Gate Building, University College Cork, Cork, Ireland M-7 23, homage to Eileen Gray II (2010) Department of Environment, Wexford, Ireland Stele for Thomas Wyse (2009) Waterford Institute of Technology, Waterford, Ireland Obelisk (2009) Battle of the Boyne Visitor Centre, Oldbridge Estate, County Meath, Ireland Lieu de Rencontre (2008) Dar Sabre, Marrakech, Morocco M-7 23 (2008) Expo 2008, Zaragoza, Spain Wave Form (2008) No1 Warrington Place, Dublin, Ireland Reliquery (2007) St Dominic's College, Cabra, Dublin, Ireland Go deo, homage to Samuel Beckett, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Em Louvor dos Limites (2005) Carrazeda de Ansiães, Portugal No Pasaran (2004) the Mall, Waterford, Ireland Amor Fati (2003) Jiaobanshan Park, Taoyuan, Taiwan Bronze Arch (2003) Gongju, Korea Her Hair (II) (2003) Courtown Harbour, County Wexford, Ireland Gateway (2002) Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland East Point (2001) East Point, Dublin, Ireland Pasqua (III) (2001) University of Valencia, Spain Ceatharloch (2001) Carlow, Ireland Millennium Sculpture (2001) Radió Telefís Éireann, Dublin, Ireland Dolmen (2000) Irish Management Institute, Dublin, Ireland Almanac (2000) Royal Victoria Hospital, Belfast, Northern Ireland Tulach a’ tSolais (1999) Oulart Hill, County Wexford, Ireland Atlanticus (1999) County Buildings, Galway, Ireland Pasqua (II) (1999) A&L Goodbody HQ, International Financial Services Centre, Dublin, Ireland El Arado y las Estrellas (1998) Metropolitan Park, Quito, Ecuador Antaeus (1998), Devil's Glen, County Wicklow, Ireland Chi (III) (1998) Rathdown School, Dún Laoghaire, County Dublin, Ireland Her Hair (1997) East Point, Dublin, Ireland Hors les murs (1996) Clermont-Ferrand, France Trade Winds (1996) Santo Tirso, Portugal Ophelia (1st version) (1995) Dieudonné, Oise, France Ophelia (2nd version) (1995) Castlelough, County Clare, Ireland Alizes et tortues (1994) Lamentin, Guadeloupe, French West Indies Wood Quay (1994) Civic Offices, Dublin, Ireland Eena-Meena-Mina-Mo (1993) Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois, USA Salmon Fall (1993) University of Limerick, Limerick, Ireland Living Relic (1993) Dunleer, County Louth, Ireland A Full Moon in March (1992) Minamikata, Japan Elegy to Light (1992) island of Thassos, Greece Pagan Place (1991) Encamp, Principality of Andorra Chi (1991) Allied Dunbar, Swindon, England Throughway (1991) University College Dublin, Ireland Beneath the ’bow (1991) Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland Chi (1990) Oloron Sainte-Marie, France Journey Inland (1990) Campo de las Naciones, Madrid, Spain Thrones (1989) Hakone Open Air Museum, Japan Bio-dynamics (1989) Conrad Hotel, Dublin, Ireland Antigone (1988) Olympic Sculpture Park, Seoul, Korea De-creation (VI) (1987) Ferrybank, Wexford, Ireland Timber Construction for Plano (1986) Farnsworth House, Plano, Illinois, USA After Image (1986) Castletown Cox, County Kilkenny, Ireland Thrones (1986) Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland Countermovement (1985) Trinity College Dublin, Ireland Void Anchored (1985) Kilkenny Castle, Kilkenny, Ireland Escultura Blanca (1985) Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Articulation of Void (1985) Jeddah, Saudi Arabia Broken Obelisk (1985) Foxrock, County Dublin, Ireland Chi (I) (1984) Ulster Museum, Belfast, Northern Ireland Family (1983) Gilbey's of Ireland, Dublin, Ireland Noche Oscura (1981) Dublin Port & Docks Board, Dublin, Ireland De-creation (V) (1978) Radió Telefís Éireann, Dublin, Ireland