As if we couldn’t love Matt Damon any more, he has just gone and impressed us again.
The Hollywood star has signed a drawing of himself and it’s going to be auctioned off for Pieta House.
And what’s more incredible is that the original target of €5,000 has already been hit.
The drawing was finished two weeks ago and the signing was done over the last few days. Shane Gillen, the artist behind the piece, tells Her he “couldn’t share any of it until [Matt] left the country.”
“He left at 9am this morning” says Shane who “can’t wait to see what happens when he comes back!”
Shane co-owns a talent company called Big & Bright and during lockdown he took the time to start drawing again – “an old passion” he hadn’t picked up in a while.
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Shane decided to start drawing well known much loved Irish figures: Michael D Higgins, Gay Byrne, Leo Varadkar, and Ryan Tubridy. Then he decided to draw the man that had Dalkey and the rest of Ireland talking – Matt Damon.
He posted the drawing on Instagram and someone suggested he try and get Damon to sign it to sell it for charity – and that’s exactly what he did. Life works in magical ways, and when you’re Irish it’s even more magical… because someone always knows someone.
Turns out a friend of a friend of a friend is Matt Damon’s personal trainer so he asked, Matt said yes, and the rest is history.
“It was two trips to Dalkey,” says Shane. First was to meet his trainer and the next was to meet the whole team in Mugs Cafe.
“Matt signed it under the understanding that this was going to a raffle or an auction,” says Shane.
Shane put a target of €5,000 to raise for Pieta, and he’s already creeping towards the €6,000 mark. There’s no doubt that this piece will see a lot more bidders over the next while.
The winning bid and lucky new owner of the signed Matt Damon print will be picked in three weeks time. You can place your own bid here.
Shane is also selling a series of twenty prints of the original image in aid of Pieta House. Those are being sold for €1,000 each here.
