It is easy to spot the famous artist from Alabama in the Shelbourne Hotel lounge. He's the one wearing a leather waistcoat over a fleece, sitting within scorching distance of the enormous open fire. "I've been in Dublin for one hour - and it's cold," says Nall Hollis, known professionally as Nall, who is in Dublin to donate one of his works at a charity auction in Killiney tonight.
The piece, a hefty bronze sculpture of a dove, is a hand-held version of a car-sized work that was installed in Assisi in 2006, outside the basilica of St Francis, and organisers of tonight's auction hope that it will raise a five-figure sum for Amnesty and Goal.
It is being organised and hosted by Olivia Gaynor and her partner, businessman Brian Long, a venture capitalist with Atlantic Bridge Ventures and the founder of Parthus Technologies.
"There'll be about 300 people there - our friends are coming in from all over the world," says Ms Gaynor, who hopes to raise €100,000 over the course of the night staged in the ballroom of their home, Kenah Hill.
A painting by her Killiney neighbour, Bono, titled Peter and the Wolf, will also be auctioned, and guests will be entertained by the disco group Sister Sledge.
Even among such company, Nall's work - Violata Pax Dove - is expected to be the star attraction. From one side, Nall's heavy bronze dove seems straightforward enough. Turn it around, however, and the dove has a gaping wound where an eye should be, and a stump instead of a claw. It's a statement on "wounded peace", says Nall. "A dove is a symbol of peace - you think of Picasso's little bird with an olive branch. That's great, but we're in a state of wounded peace because of religious implications around the world, a state of tension rather than peace."
Nall's surrealist sculptures, paintings and mosaics have been installed outside churches, in town squares, university campuses and the Galileo Galilei international airport in Pisa. The works are full of symbolism, says Nall. He explains the politically charged themes of his work: Fidel Castro as a locust, Christianity raping eastern religions, apocalyptic landscapes poisoned by oil, people ruined by gluttony and - a favourite theme - drugs.
"Having taken drugs and alcohol and then abstaining for the last 26 years, I believe drugs put veils in front of your eyes, that keep you seeing reality. I tell my kids [young artists he supports] that you don't need drugs to see - if you want clarity, go to a dog pound, go to a hospital, go to India, and your eyes will be opened."