Mark O'Kelly
High-Rise, 2021Oil on Linen
190 × 150 cm
Mark O'Kelly's painting practice demonstrates a sustained engagement around questions of cognitive representation in the negotiation of a psychological poetry of the image-construct. The imagined public spaces that result within his architecture of pictures, narrates a consciousness formation that is manifested in the effective public interaction within contemporary and historic cosmetic image cultures.
The studio-based painting practice at the centre of his work has provided the foundation for a series of specifically conceived installations – addressing specific theories of representation, reproduction and quotation. Such exhibitions of his work include his 2016 solo exhibition Empireland at Project Arts Centre in Dublin, A Solar System for EVA International, AGITATIONISM in Limerick in 2014, Leaders and Followers at Temple bar Gallery and Studios in 2010 and In Fashion at Limerick City Gallery of Art in 2005.
markokelly.ie
Instagram: @mark_okelly
Mark O'Kelly (1968) is an artist living and working in Dublin. He is Head of Fine Art Painting at the National College of Art and Design, Ireland, is a board member of The Arts Council / An Chomhairle Ealaíon, and is a board member of the steering committee of the PARADOX Fine Art European Forum. His work is included in many Public and Private collections of art including The Collection of the Irish Museum of Modern Art, The Arts Council, the Office of Public Works, Limerick City Gallery of Art, University College Dublin, Technological University Dublin, Limerick University. He studied at the National College of Art and Design, Dublin (1985–1990) and at the Slade School of Fine Art, University College London (1990–1992).
Recent group exhibitions include: The Narrow Gate of the Here-and-Now, Irish Museum of Modern Art. IMMA: 30 Years of the Global Contemporary (upcoming November 2021); Ghosts of the Recent Past, Irish Museum of Modern Art 2020-21; Infrastructures of Now at the NCAD Gallery 2018; It’s Very New School at Rua Red Arts Centre Tallaght in 2017; Conversations at the Irish Museum of Modern Art 2014-15; After the Future, EVA International, 2012. In 2013 O’Kelly curated the exhibition Starting Over for Temple Bar Gallery and Studios 30th Anniversary programme.
Courtesy of the Artist / photo credit Iulian Bocancea
6th Biennial of Painting
21.10.21—05.12.21
HDLU, Meštrović Pavilion, Zagreb
Curated by
Mark Cullen & Gavin Murphy
Mountain, Dream, 2021
Oil on linen
120 × 96 cm
Mansion II, 2012
Oil on linen
150 × 200 cm
Disturbed brains, 2021
Gouache and oil on paper
100 × 70 cm
Fire, 2021
Oil on aluminium
116 × 166 × 4 cm
Deeke’s Diner, 2015/2021
Oil on canvas
70 × 70 cm
Rathmines Church and Diner, 2018
Oil on Board
63 × 84 cm
Shoreline Fantasy, 2020
Oil on linen
80 × 70cm
Apartments Aleppo, 2016
Acrylic on linen
290 × 270 cm
Singles Archive, 2019
Oil on canvas
150 × 170 cm
Field Birds, 2021
Oil on board
100 × 100 cm
Unbreakable, 2020
Acrylic on linen
25 × 20 cm
Platform, 2020
Oil on canvas
60 × 60 cm
Moment of Surrender, 2020
Oil on canvas
30 × 40 cm
Are we there yet, 2020
Oil on wood panel
Artist’s frame
53 × 63 cm
Against a Melancholy Moment (or Magic Carpet), 2020
Acrylic paint on plywood
240 × 140 cm
Don't look back baby, 2019
Oil on canvas
100 × 120 cm
Golden No 8, 2018
Oil on board
100 × 147 cm
Grey, yellow, blue, 2020
Oil on linen
140 × 105 cm
Found 20 euro in Tesco car park and I taught what would Jesus do, so I turned it into wine, 2021
Acrylic paint on mdf wood
130 × 45 cm
High-Rise, 2021
Oil on Linen
190 × 150 cm
Lark Series: Landscape, 2020
Oil on canvas
180 × 360 cm
Work, 2021
Oil on canvas
130 × 250 cm
The Vertical, 2019
Oil on canvas, roller, wood and lapels
Dimensions variable
The Chanterelle Robe, 2020
Oil on linen
71 × 56cm
Container, 2017
Unfired earthenware, acrylic paint, spray paint
20 × 30cm
Forerunner (after ken isaacs), 2017
Wood, bolts, fabric
Dimensions variable based on 30 × 30 × 300 mm units
E.I.A., 2021
Oil & acrylic on panel
22 × 30 cm
Freiwild, 2019
Oil & acrylic on canvas
24 × 30 cm
Artists
Colin Crotty, Eithne Jordan, Eleanor McCaughey, Fergus Martin, Kathy Tynan, Mairead O’hEocha, Alison Pilkington, Brian Maguire, Colin Martin, Gabhann Dunne, Gemma Browne, Gillian Lawler, John Lalor, Natasha Conway, Orla Whelan, Oscar Fouz Lopez, Stephen Loughman, Marcel Vidal, Harry Walsh Foreman, Mark O'Kelly, Patrick Graham, Salvatore of Lucan, Sonia Shiel, Sven Sandberg, Liliane Puthod, Forerunner, Sean Molloy, Sean Molloy
About the Exhibition
Pallas Projects present ‘Dubliners’ – the international section of the 6th Biennial of Painting, Zagreb, curated by Mark Cullen & Gavin Murphy. The exhibition affords a unique opportunity to present together for the first time, an intergenerational grouping of painters who were born, bred, studied (and taught), or live and work in Dublin. The invitation to curate such a survey of contemporary painting presents a huge opportunity, and invites its own questions. It allows us to consider: what does it mean to present a national (or municipal) exhibition today? What does (or can) such an exhibition say about a city, its people? What does it mean within the expanded topography of contemporary art with its multiple and unlimited forms? What does such an exhibition say about artists (or painters) working together in a city. Can we trace traits of influence, exchange and conversation, of a ‘community of painting’, or is painting the ‘purest form of individualism’?
Events
Saturday 23rd October, 5pm CET
Panel discussion: What is it to paint (in) a city?
Artist talk moderated by critic, curator and educator James Merrigan, with panellists Stephen Loughman, Colin Martin, Mark O’Kelly, Sonia Shiel, Orla Whelan.
Wednesday 27th October, 6pm CET
Dubliners Reel, curated by Eve Woods
A screening of film works by Irish artists, featuring: Anne Maree Barry, John Byrne, Michelle Doyle, Kevin Gaffney, Léann Herlihy, and Gavin Murphy.
Essay
Pallas Projects/Studios (founded 1996) is a not-for-profit artist-run organisation dedicated to the facilitation of artistic production and discourse, via the provision of affordable artists studios in Dublin’s city centre, and curated projects, exhibitions, exchanges, off-site projects, talks, resource programmes, and publications. PP/S are at the forefront of research, advocacy and support of artist-run practice in Ireland and across Europe. They are authors of the research project and publication ‘Artist-Run Europe’ (Onomatopee, Eindhoven, 2016), which included contributions from AA Bronson, Transmission Gallery, Triangle France, and Eastside Projects and featured essays, case studies, and an index of 600 European artist-run spaces – a second updated edition of which is due in 2022.
Pallas Projects/Studios is funded by The Arts Council
‘Dubliners’ is funded by Culture Ireland
About the Biennial of Painting
The Croatian Association of Artists (HDLU) established the Biennial of Painting in 2011. The Biennial’s aim is to survey and evaluate the local painting scene in the context of new European movements and explore, through comparison, the global position of the medium of painting. In this way, HDLU promotes the development of the visual arts by supporting and encouraging artistic creativity and excellence, and by conceiving and promoting international cultural exchange. Conferences, lectures and presentations are organised as part of a Biennial on the initiative of the organisers, to both educate and inspire. Traditionally two awards (Grand Prix and Young Artist Award) – extremely valuable from an expert artistic and financial point of view – are awarded to the most prominent artists and their work.
As well as presenting what is new in Croatian painting today, each edition of the Biennial engages with new and emerging tendencies in the medium of painting across various cities, regions and countries of Europe. In 2011, the guest city was Berlin (“I am a Berliner”, curated by Mark Gisbourne), in 2013 Vienna (“Vienna Calling”, curated by Theresia Hauenfels), in 2015 it was Gdańsk (“Exporting Gdańsk”, curated by Katarzyna Kosmala), in 2017 Prague (“Extended Painting Prag”, curated by Marek Schovanek), and in 2019 Leipzig (“Leipzig Connection”, curated by Mark Gisbourne).
HDLU is located in the famous Meštrović Pavilion in central Zagreb. It consists of three exhibition spaces: Prsten Gallery, Bačva Gallery, and PM Gallery. Its mission and openness aims to foster all expressions of creativity, from prestigious world premieres and biennials to grassroots movements, with the desire to inspire and motivate the public through art.