VENI, VIDI, medici

ART PATRONS:I came, I saw, I bought . . . Corporate collectors have become Ireland's latter-day patrons of the arts and the current exhibition at Imma shows off some of their riches, writes Gemma Tipton.

Oscar Wilde said that when bankers get together for dinner, they discuss art; and when artists get together for dinner, they discuss money.

But art and money have a long relationship, and their mutual attraction is, if anything, growing stronger.

If the Medicis were the quintessential Renaissance patrons, who are the patrons of today? At the Irish Museum of Modern Art (Imma), a new exhibition takes a look, and here, we meet six of Ireland's modern-day Medicis.

FERGUS AHERN, Chartered accountant, Ahern & Co, Boyle, Co Roscommon

'MY INTEREST in art came from when I was a student at UCD. It was raining, and I was walking home. That was in the 1960s, when there weren't even bus shelters to keep the rain off. I ducked into the doorway of the David Hendricks Gallery.

I don't know exactly how it happened, but suddenly my coat was taken from me and I had a glass of wine in my hand and I was eating canapés (I'd never seen or heard of a canapé before). And I got on the mailing list, which was great fun for a penniless student, thanks to the free wine.

The late David Hendricks was very supportive and encouraged my interest. He was at the hard edge of art, indeed there was little else going on then to assist young artists, many of whom have since become national names.

Ahern & Company support and buy art, but we don't actually own any of it. Everything we buy goes to the Boyle Civic Collection, which we helped to set up, along with the Boyle Arts Festival.

I think there are different ways of supporting the arts. One way is by amassing a collection, and another is with an event like the festival, where there is an emphasis on giving a platform to young painters and sculptors, as well as more established artists.

The modest surplus from the sale of artworks in the annual festival goes towards purchasing art for the Boyle Civic Collection. The collection is now considered of national significance and gets support from the Contemporary Irish Art Society, the Haverty Trust and the Friends of the National Collections of Ireland, as well as donations from artists themselves. The main "home" of the collection is King House in Boyle, but we also hang works in venues around the town. We recently launched an education pack aimed at second-level students too.

What we're trying to build for Boyle is a collection that is accessible to the public. The arts are a reflection of where society is, a mirror of what is happening in Ireland at this time, at the end of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st.

The works are there for people to see forever, they belong to the people of Boyle. Our next step is to try to get a permanent, purpose-built home for the collection.

However, without county council or Government support, that may not happen. But perhaps there is a private benefactor around who might help, someone like a Guggenheim or a Glucksman."

Terence O'Rourke, managing partner, KPMG, Dublin

'WE EMPLOY about 1,900 people in the country. The policy is to continue to expand the art collection. We leave it to one person to make the decisions, rather than have a committee fighting about it. Originally it was Fergus O'Tierney but now Brendan Murphy has the job. I nudge him along, but only in the sense of making sure he continues to do it. It's current, contemporary Irish art, whatever's exciting and innovative.

We get great reactions from both clients and staff. We also commission work, from artists such as TP Flanagan, Liam Belton and Mary West. A few years ago we went to NCAD and asked students to come up with work on their ideas of business, for one of our training rooms. Some wonderful pieces came out of that. One of those students was Geraldine O'Neill, who has gone on to great things and, serendipitously, her brother is now a partner in the firm. We also have a Diana Copperwhite from that group.

We don't see the art as an appreciating asset to sell on. It's nice that our works by Donald Teskey, which we bought for maybe €4,000 or €5,000, are now worth much more, but we're not going to sell them.

What we're trying to do is create a pleasant atmosphere for people to work in. We're in the business of providing smart answers to people and do it in a creative way. Having art on the walls can help us with that.

I have a little bit of art at home, but it's not quite as vibrant as what we have here. I'm moving office soon though to the IFSC, and I'll be asking Brendan to give me a Bob Quinn sculpture for the new office. I wouldn't mind a Martin Gale as well.

Martin Gales's paintings are quite intense, but they have great narratives. Sometimes you can be at a meeting with clients and they get stuck on things, and they'll look at the painting on the wall and think about it - it's a great break. There's a Martin Gale where there's a car on one side of a lake, and a boat on the far side, and it looks like they're separated, and I've been in a number of meetings where businesses are in trouble, and they'll look at that painting and say "we can't get to that bloody boat".

I wouldn't think we're in the Medici category; we do things in a modest way, but we do have a responsibility, and having made it in Ireland, we need to give something back to Ireland. It's not Medici, but it is something."

Weston Allen, partner, Beechwood Partners, Dublin

'ONE OF THE first pieces we bought at Beechwood was by Ciarán Lennon. We had been in business a year, and wanted to mark that somehow. We knew of his work, and went to his studio to pick out a painting. We spent about two hours there and chose the work that is now in the Imma exhibition. We came out delighted, and hailed a taxi to get back to the office. We were so carried away, we'd forgotten that we had actually driven over to Ciarán's studio, and our car was parked just around the corner.

I've been collecting since I left college. My mam and dad were always bringing my brother and sister and I around historic houses, exhibitions, antique shops, jumble sales and the like, and that had given me an interest in art, but also the perspective to know what I liked. The first painting I bought was in 1994. It was two months after I graduated, and the bank had given me a Visa card. I couldn't believe I'd got one, or that anyone would accept it, so I bought a Sean McSweeney from the Taylor Galleries. I decided to worry about how I was going to pay it back later.

We set up Beechwood in 2005. We give accounting and tax advice to professionals and we also have some well-established artists on our books. Working with them is a complete break from what we do the other 95 per cent of the time. Having paintings in the office is the same; they give you a different perspective. If you're working on a particularly hard set of accounts, a look at the paintings on the wall helps you step back, clears your mind, and you can come back to the particular problem afresh.

If you buy a painting for your business and display it in an area used by staff or clients, the cost is tax deductible over eight years. You also have the investment upside, because you have the asset, although you should only ever buy a painting because you like it. I've only ever bought paintings because they seemed good value on two occasions, rather than because I liked them, and both times I've sold them again quite quickly. If you don't like it, don't buy it. Similarly, if you don't like something that's on your wall, I would definitely encourage you to sell it. There's no point looking at something you don't like."

Hugh Murray, partner, Murray O'Laoire Architects (Mola), Limerick

'MOLA WAS SET up in Limerick in 1979, and EV+A in 1977 by a group of local artists, including Sam Walsh, Charlie Harper, and Charlie O'Donovan, who wanted to give contemporary art a higher exposure in the city. I became chairman of EV+A in the early 1980s. I didn't think it would last or be so interesting for this long.

Over the years there have been strong pieces in EV+A that I have identified with. One was a sculpture made out of giant containers, forming an "X" in the city. It was by a Belgian architect, Luc de Louw. That made an impact on the city. Most recently in King John's Castle, Seamus Farrell has made a "modern ruin" in the castle. He calls it a "neo ruin", and that kind of observation on contemporary life in an urban context is very interesting to me. It's the interaction with the artists that makes it so worthwhile.

The real enjoyment of EV+A is meeting the artists every year, and the new curator. This year it's Hou Hanru, who is very interested in architecture. He is a close friend of Rem Koolhaas (a pioneering Dutch architect), so there have been some great conversations.

I've always thought of architecture as an art. It's inspiring and refreshing to work with artists as a stimulus to creating good architecture. We involve artists in our projects as early as we can, the sooner the better, from our point of view. We've had a number of collaborations, for example, with Vivienne Roche, from the Green Building in Temple Bar, to the Music School in Cork. Often it's a Percent for Arts scheme, but in the Music School, we're sponsoring it with Sisks, the construction contractors.

In the Dublin office, we have some Cecily Brennans. In Limerick there's a Gavin Hogg. We also have a piece by David Lilburn, which he was commissioned to do for our Irish Hanover Pavilion in 2000. I buy works from the student diploma shows in the Limerick School of Art and Design, but most of our support is in terms of projects, rather than by collecting.

It's good for our profile, but it's also interesting and enjoyable for staff, and it's an opportunity to entertain clients. As urban designers, we recognise how the life of cities, the success of cities, is dependent on a thriving cultural life. But a lot of it is also because it's enjoyable."

Anne O'Donoghue, associate director, Anglo Irish Bank, Dublin and board member of Imma

'COLLECTING AT Anglo Irish Bank fits with our corporate-responsibility programme. We try to buy works that articulate a high standard, that show individuality, creativity, a quest for excellence. We have a huge pool of talent in this country in terms of contemporary art, so it's something we should be very proud about.

My husband and I enjoy collecting art but it's a different process at the bank, where I'm part of a committee which chooses the works. Sometimes, you will not warm to an artwork, then someone else articulates a view and excitement about it which causes you to look at it again and maybe understand it. You won't always agree with everything purchased through the committee, but that's where the diversity comes from. Even in a private context, you won't always agree with everything your partner likes or chooses; it would be highly boring if you did.

Having art in a business environment is interesting for the staff who work there. We get feedback from them. We have images and information on the artists and artworks on our intranet site, so it's not just acting as a wall decoration, but potentially opening another avenue for people to explore their own interests.

Clients who come into our bank also appreciate the art. We have a contemporary collection, and over the years I think we have bought wisely and well. The collection includes work by Stephen McKenna, Yona Caffrey, Mark Francis, and we have a very fine Tony O'Malley, which I would love to own. A person will always pick out their own particular favourites, but in a way I have the best of all worlds, because I get to enjoy art in my work life, and also in my home life.

Appreciating art should never be an elitist thing, it should be for everyone. For me, it's about personal interpretation, the things that reach out and grab me by the throat and say "take me home". There are still artists whose work I love that I haven't bought, perhaps they'll come to the bank's collection one day . . ."

Annemarie Shillito, head of global corporate responsibility, Experian

'WE LOOK AT investing in local young artists, young entrepreneurial people who are making it, which fits in with what we do as a business. I say "investing", but I don't mean it as buying something to sell on, or to be counted as a corporate asset. They may become more valuable over time, but we would see the investment as being in the people, and that's our people in Experian as well as the arts community.

We're about to choose art for the ground floor of our office in Dublin and it includes offices for people who used to have great views of the city. They miss their views, so some inspiring work will be important. The plan is to bring a collection of work and a group of artists together in one of the local studios, and host an evening with our people, so they can meet the artists. It brings the two worlds of work and art together and gives an appreciation of how long it takes to create a work of art. Once the artists start to talk about their work, people get pulled along by their ideas. They get more enthusiastic about something that's slightly unusual.

We're not a hugely "artistic" company, we're an information-based, data-rich company and we have "information" on our walls, too. This was all we thought we should be doing for some time but a few conversations with the organisations that are there to help develop creative partnerships between businesses and the arts (namely Arts & Business in the UK, and Business to Arts in Ireland) soon had us thinking there was a different way of approaching art. So, we took the view of working with young artists who are local to our different geographies.

We'll look at the local arts scene, with the support of local experts, and I make a shortlist of artists, asking any staff with an enthusiasm for art to help. This goes onto a website, with a profile of the different artists, and images of their works, then we simply ask people to vote online and the results are fed back to me. The local art enthusiasts then get a second chance because from the voted-for work, they get a budget and have the final say.

People can be really surprised to be asked, and you get some great comments. Ultimately, there is a company veto. Within reason, we'll allow complete freedom of choice, but we have to remember that it's still a corporate environment. But we've also found that individuals are often more conservative than we might have been as an organisation.

From our company perspective, it can give people a lift, and from the outside, it demonstrates that we've got genuine interest in the local artistic community. Dublin has strong expectations of its culture, strong artistic views, and it's important to engage with that."

10,000 to 50: Contemporary Art from the Members of Business to Arts is at the Irish Museum of Modern Art until August 4th. www.modernart.ie