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PHOTOS True: A Celebration of the Work of Billy Hayes opens at People’s Museum of Limerick up to Sunday, March 8
True: A Celebration of the Work of Billy Hayes opened to the public at the People’s Museum of Limerick on Friday, March 6th, 2026. The family of artist Billy Hayes on opening night of his exhibition. Picture: Olena Oleksienko/ilovelimerick
True: A Celebration of the Work of Billy Hayes brings together an extensive selection of pieces spanning several decades at the People’s Museum of Limerick and runs until Sunday, March 8
True: A Celebration of the Work of Billy Hayes brings together an extensive selection of pieces spanning several decades and an unusually wide range of disciplines from Friday, March 6, up to Sunday, March 8, at People’s Museum of Limerick.
The exhibition, open daily from 9 am to 4 pm, offers visitors a rare window into the late artist’s creative practice of uncommon breadth and consistency.
Hayes, who passed away in June 2023 after a short illness, was widely known for his iconic black-and-white pencil drawing of Richard Harris, with his art visible throughout Limerick venues including Nancy Blake’s, Punches Bar and Tom Collins Bar.
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Leonie Lynch, Exhibit Co-Organiser, told I Love Limerick, “Billy was someone who could turn his hand to anything. Anything creative, anything artistic.
“He always used to do artist in inverted commas. When you look around the room, you know that he deserved to call himself that, and so much more, because he could turn his hand to anything.”
The exhibition includes pieces loaned by friends, collaborators and supporters who collected Hayes’ work over the years, bringing a selection of artworks that will also be available for sale during the exhibition.
Speaking about the breadth of Billy’s talents, Leonie said that whatever his creativity called for, “he would just go and do it”.
She said, “He was relentlessly thinking about doing, he lived to make art and he made art live. He was just the best. He went through a big phase of digital art when he got his first Mac, and then that led to all this amazing digital work where he would take a building or a person – his muse – and put them into these randomly strange situations.”
Leonie, who worked alongside Exhibit A to put the exhibition together, revealed the collection included pieces on loan from friends and family, and boasts some uniqie pieces, including the only oil painting ever created by the Limerick artist.
I Love Limerick’s Richard Lynch, a friend of Billy, noted, “ Besides being an artist, he really was a friend, and he was really part of the Limerick community. He was literally beloved by all. Billy; The man, the person, the friend, the brother, the son.”
Leonie continued, “The gent! So, this exhibition is called True. True Legend. True gent. True friend. True creative, and that’s the truth. We love you, Billy.”
Alongside the exhibition, the Billy Hayes Artist Bursary has been established to support an emerging artist.
Billy Hayes was a renowned artist, photographer, and graphic designer, whose work is instantly recognisable throughout Limerick, and the people of Limerick are grateful for his art, including his work in the early years of I Love Limerick.
Pictures: Olena Oleksienko/ilovelimerick
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