Sussex Artist
Patrick O’Donnell
I try to delve into subject matter that straddles the quantum
soup, millionths of a second after the creation of the universe,
and imagery from the more recent past. My current body of
work displays a renewed interest in abstraction and layering
techniques and through these works I explore how imagery from
a variety of sources including the Hubble Telescope, nocturnal
photos of Brighton, and stills from television and images from
popular culture are filtered through the painting process.
Embracing technology within the
‘traditional’ medium of oil on canvas,
my compositions are informed by
manipulating imagery in Photoshop
and, in particular, the opacity and
layering tools, where a predicted image
is planned but often unfolds differently,
allowing for the fluidity of the medium
to take control of the final image. The
act of painting is itself an interpretation
of things, a way of exploring the world
through the material of which it’s
composed (eggs, rocks, wings, shells).
A recurring theme I explore is the notion
of the sublime, our miniscule place in the
cosmos and the painted surface taking
the viewer to another realm.
Based in Brighton I’m currently
exhibiting my solo show ‘Wavelengths’
at Homerton Hospital, Hackney. I have
gained arts council awards and have
curated a series of exhibitions, most
recently 20 Painters and 32 Paintings
at Phoenix Gallery Brighton. My public
art work commission – Portrait of the
Artist – the face behind the facade was
displayed outside the Phoenix Brighton
Building from Sept 2012 – Sept 2013
and my work can be found in public and
private collections in the UK, France and
USA.
I was brought up in Leeds and gained
a foundation in Art and Design at
Harrogate College of Technology in 1994
and BA (Hons) Fine Art at Southampton
Institute in 1997. I have lived and worked
in Brighton since then and my current
studio is situated at Phoenix, Brighton.
The awards I have won include Arts
Council 2003 and Neo Art Prize for Best
Painting at Brighton Art Fair 2005. Some
of my work can be found in private
collections in the UK, France and in USA.
Growing up in the 1980s the threat of
nuclear apocalypse was apparent in all
forms of media –the doomed human
race in countless sci-fi franchises, the
tension between the American and
Soviet superpowers with Reagan’s talk
of the Star Wars defence programme,
my terror at TV film ‘Threads’ depicting
post-apocalypse life in northern England
with families hiding under mattresses to
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