During this pandemic, I’ve been drawing portraits of people that were symbolic of the pandemic in Ireland. Two weeks ago, I drew Matt Damon. Matt SIGNED THE DRAWING for me and we are raffling it for @PietaHouse - entries are €20, and here’s a link: https://www.gofundme.com/manage/matt-damon-portrait-for-pieta

This has been a MAD adventure that took me out to Dalkey with Matt’s portrait in a box that said ‘Matt Damon’ on it. I probably could have done with a little more discretion looking back, but I was excited.

There were a lot of moving cogs that made this happen, but in particular I want to thank @RonanDunneVZ for planting the seed, and @dougleddin for figuring out the how, and @ianredmond for making it happen, as well as Matt Damon’s team, and in particular, Matt Baiamonte.

This was an incredible quiet adventure that has been going on for two weeks, and with Matt’s departure today I’m finally allowed share the details. I made a video explaining everything here:

I want to thank the people of Dalkey who I met over the past two weeks too during this, the guys at @mugscafe and finally Matt Damon himself for agreeing to raffle this portrait for @PietaHouse

I am also selling a limited run of 20 prints of this signed portrait on my website. I will number and sign each of the prints, and *ALL* of the proceeds from these will go to @PietaHouse - they’re available here: https://www.shanegillenart.com/matt-damon-portrait-for-pieta

The numbers on the drawing that read vertical are the co-ordinates of @SuperValuIRL in Dalkey, and the ones that read horizontal are the co-ordinates of Dalkey itself.

Two weeks ago, I raised €3,000 for @PietaHouse from my artwork, I would *love* to beat that this time, especially given the story. So, please donate what you can, and watch the video if you have time: https://www.gofundme.com/manage/matt-damon-portrait-for-pieta