A desire for simplification and concentration inspired Munich-based James O’Connor to embark on his latest collection of work, an exhibition of which opens at the Taylor Galleries on 6 June
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In August 1999, I started work on a series of paintings. They were all the same size (144cm x 96cm) and the choice of the vertical format came about initially through feeling the presence of trees in the forest near my studio.
My idea was to work on one painting for a month, stop, and then start the next canvas. It was my specific interest to reach a state of intensity with each work within a given sequence of time by simplifying the form and concentrating on one colour. The result was ten paintings in ten months. Each work contained a simple form which was mostly black in colour, but the space it entered changed in colour with each painting
The National Library of Ireland recently acquired an album of thirty-six watercolours and prints made by James Cavanah Murphy in Portugal between 1789 and 1790. Michael McCarthy recalls the career and travels of this unusual draughtsman
The Smurfit Art Collection spans three continents and contains some of the best 20th-century Irish art. Ciaran MacGonical reviews a new catalogue of the collection