about
Artist's Statement
My art practice is diverse and constantly evolving. Currently there are two major strands, painting and issue based project work.
Painting
Since moving from London to St Just in 2006, I have painted the wild and rugged landscape around me in West Penwith and the Isles of Scilly. I often draw and paint outside, but usually the paintings are made in the studio and are a mixture of place, memory and imagination. The work is an emotionally driven exploration of light, weather and the pattern and rhythm of the seasons.
I use a variety of techniques and materials, and some images are more abstract than others. Painting is a ritual of burial and retrieval and most of the images when they emerge are hard won. Occasionally a painting works quickly and if I have the sense to leave well alone, something is said quite succinctly, something that would be lost under layers of paint.
My art practice is diverse and constantly evolving. Currently there are two major strands, painting and issue based project work.
Painting
Since moving from London to St Just in 2006, I have painted the wild and rugged landscape around me in West Penwith and the Isles of Scilly. I often draw and paint outside, but usually the paintings are made in the studio and are a mixture of place, memory and imagination. The work is an emotionally driven exploration of light, weather and the pattern and rhythm of the seasons.
I use a variety of techniques and materials, and some images are more abstract than others. Painting is a ritual of burial and retrieval and most of the images when they emerge are hard won. Occasionally a painting works quickly and if I have the sense to leave well alone, something is said quite succinctly, something that would be lost under layers of paint.
ABOUT:
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
EDUCATION
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DOWNLOAD CV [PDF]
ARTIST'S STATEMENT
EDUCATION
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
DOWNLOAD CV [PDF]
Project Work
My project work is driven by my head rather than my heart. I use text, sound and installation as well as drawing and painting to explore issues such as immigration, personal and collective memory, value and desire. Narrative is often key, as is humour.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, my most recent project work has its roots in the landscape where I live. For 100 days last Winter I cleared a patch of the beach at Priests Cove in Cape Cornwall. I collected and documented hundreds of industrial and consumer objects and fragments. These have become the focus of an ongoing body of drawings, paintings and drift plastic constructions, to be shown at Cornwall Contemporary in Penzance, and another site specific venue in Summer 2009.
Maggie O'Brien 2008
My project work is driven by my head rather than my heart. I use text, sound and installation as well as drawing and painting to explore issues such as immigration, personal and collective memory, value and desire. Narrative is often key, as is humour.
Unsurprisingly perhaps, my most recent project work has its roots in the landscape where I live. For 100 days last Winter I cleared a patch of the beach at Priests Cove in Cape Cornwall. I collected and documented hundreds of industrial and consumer objects and fragments. These have become the focus of an ongoing body of drawings, paintings and drift plastic constructions, to be shown at Cornwall Contemporary in Penzance, and another site specific venue in Summer 2009.
Maggie O'Brien 2008
