michael o'reilly: nature or nurture 2012
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exhibition catalogueTRANSCRIPT
Michael O’ReillyNature or Nurture
Mountains with beards, stinging tentacles and explod-ing gilet jackets can all be found in some of O’Reilly’s recent paintings, where he explores the potential for peculiarity and questions the relationships between joy, humour, hysteria and repulsion.
His paintings often resemble specific geographical locations but are in truth invented places that echo a sense of our immediate world within a much more claustrophobic one. Scenarios involving inexplicable objects, figures and forms address hidden truths un-covered in the landscape. These encounters hint at an array of pleasant and unpleasant human activities re-lated to the outdoors and are often informed by a store of personal anecdotes.
By taking us somewhere idyllic such as a rocky outcrop or to the edge of a forest in winter, there is a sense that the paintings intend to fill the mind with sentimentality, however this is prevented from firmly settling in because through the painting process, composition, propor-tion and colour combinations are misrepresented and skewed allowing an uncanny psychology to form within the work.
A mish-mash of drawings, photographs, collage and personal encounter provides a birthing ground for O’reilly’s works. Encounters are especially pertinent and include being ill, walking in the hills, seeing a beard that resembles tufts of bear fur, or simply noticing fashion-able colour combinations in a shop display window. Everything can become an inspiration.
Michael O’Reilly
Fizzle, oil on board, 40 x 47 centimeters, £750
A White Lands Welcomeoil on canvas
210 x 157 cm£3250
Blowing Raspberriesoil on canvas
20x 20 centimeters£550
Campfire Songsoil on linen
115 x 132 centimeters£2500
Smoggyoil on canvas
20 x 20 centimeters£550
Gluggy Muggy Dayoil on board
47 x 40 centimeters£750
Stingy Moundoil on linen
114 x 116 centimeters£2500
A Little Feteoil on board
40 x 47 centimeters£ 750
Huntingoil on canvas
16 x 19 centimeters£550
Pistachio Paradiseoil on linen
106 x 74 centimeters£1250
Brimhamoil on canvas
160 x 200 centimeters£ 3250
Cavern in Autumnoil on linen
138 x 137 centimeters£2500
Cast -offoil on linen
96 x 78centimeters£1250
Education
2010-2013 Royal Academy of Arts, Fine Art Postgraduate Diploma2007-2010 Wimbledon College of Arts, BA (Hons) 1st
Exhibitions
2012 Royal Academy Summer Show, London2012 Premiums. Royal Academy Schools interim show. Haunch of Venison, London2011-2012 Imaginaries of a Mysterious World. The Biscuit Factory ‘The Factory Kitchen’. Newcastle Upon Tyne2010 Hans Brinker Retuning Winners Solo Exhibition Hans Brinker Hotel, Amsterdam2010 Generation Ten. New young British artists in association with Candlestar and Hyatt Regency, The Churchill Hotel, London2010 Group Show, The Wimbledon Gallery, London2009 Hans Brinker Budget Trophey Exhibition, Hans Brinker Hotel, Amsterdam2009 Abstract Landscapes, Wimbledon Library, London2008-2009 Group Exhibition, Deautsch Bank, London
Awards
2012 Edna Rose Weiss Award for figurative painting2009 Hans Brinker Budget Trophey Award2009 Prunella Clough Shortlisted Nominee
Publications
2011/2012 Collaborative book. Cini Foundation, Venice/Royal Academy Schools, London. Compilation of R.A students works2010 Milton Keynes Fringe Painting Prize Catalogue
Residencies
2010 Hans Brinker Returning Winners Residency, Hans Brinker Hotel, Amsterdam
Front Cover Image: Apple Farm, oil on canvas, 210 x 170 centimeters, £3250Back Cover Image: Citadel, oil on board, 30 x 19.5 centimeters, £550