James O'Brien

2005

Craypots
 
OIL 51x118cm
Boating Party
 
ACRYLIC 76x101cm
Summer Afternoon
 
ACRYLIC 61x61cm
Cornelian Bay Sunrise
 
OIL 97x124cm
click on artwork to see a larger version

About James O'Brien

Visiting James O’Brien and Friends.

A review By Sue Hancock.

The ‘Friends’ collected in James O’Brien’s studio are the painted figures of his many and varied portraits. They lean in from the walls, some confidentially, others regarding you from a thoughtful distance, all caught in a moment of vivid being. “You know,” he says, eyeing them thoughtfully,” the more you know someone the easier it is to catch their likeness.” And yes, he agrees, painting people is a way of getting to know them more closely. He adds that he thinks that in the process his subjects begin to get closer to themselves. The painter is a mysterious figure, a magical stranger who crosses one’s life and shows you something about yourself that you might not have known before.

It is this kind of vision that creates the balance and form within the paintings, the combination of what is vivid and momentary with something deeper and more structured, more thought. But O’Brien has not been formed in any particular school. As he describes it he first ‘picked up the brush’ in 2002. It seemed almost random, accidental. His original inspiration came from his work at St. Paul’s College in Kew where he works with students with additional needs. He was particularly struck by the way in which in their sensory art projects their levels of ability became insignificant as they “immersed themselves in self-expression.”

There is much that is apparently child-like in his own recent paintings of summer, of holiday weather by the sea, of the warmth and happiness of innocent pleasures. But these canvasses, too, are deeply thought out. Though they reflect his long carefree summers as a child in Tasmania they are finely balanced – ominous elements seem almost to intrude, the sea through which his young girl surfers run towards the light has a slightly disturbing animation of its own. The paintings are so arresting a mixture of what is unreflecting and what is deeper that it is not surprising that in his short painting career to date James has enjoyed a steady stream of sales and commissions. He has already collected a number of awards and his works hang in the Tasmanian Cricket Association Museum and with private collections in Australia, the UK, China and the USA.

People’s Choice Award Canterbury Art Show 2006, Royal Youth Yarra Lawn Tennis Club Art Show 2003

Finalist Hidden Faces of the Archibald, Melbourne, 2009, 2008, 2006, 2004

Solo Exhibitions “... of the Sand” Port Sorell 2010, “Summer Break” Point Lonsdale 2009, “Recent Paintings – Fond Memories” Portsea 2008, “Reflections” Toorak 2007

For more on James O'Brien see
www.jamesobrienart.com.au

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