intuitive, wordless.
non conceptual.
the organisation of space.
informed by place and surroundings.

Belonging- a series of paintings


Every Tuesday in 2004/5 I took the train in to the studio on West 26th St from upstate, NY. I got a coffee, lunch and a piece of cake. I put on Bjorks greatest hits and selected a slide or a photo from the many I had taken over the years from a moving van or train and painted.

This shed is on the N5 heading east from Mayo to Dublin. It was first obscured by a ‘Jesus I Trust in You’ sign and now also by hedge. At the time it struck me as the perfect example of Irish roadside sheds. 

I moved to New York in 1993 right after graduating from college in Dublin. New York was a Scorsese movie, it was Madonna in Desperately Seeking Susan! I worked in a bank for a few months. I worked at Sin É, the Irish music cafe on St Marks Place where Jeff Buckley made us feel dreamy every Monday night. I got adventurous and gave up all to paint full time. I painted murals in midtown Irish bars working high up on scaffolding with the builders. I collaborated and travelled. I was on the road, in Colorado and California for a year. This is when I discovered that I liked to be on the edge, next to the sea, or at the very least a river. I worked outdoors painting abstractly on the streets around SoHo. I became adept at noticing celebrities in all their guises. I painted and painted put in my 10,000 hours of practice. I sold paintings to The Westin in Times Square, to New York University Law School, Macy’s Department store; to Simon Baker The Guardian and Scott Weiland of Stone Temple Pilots and my favourite, to countless couples choosing their first piece of art together. In 2004 I spent a year of Tuesdays listening to Bjorks greatest hits painting one “Belonging” painting a day, staying in the studio until it was finished. I moved every year, either studio or home. (If I wasn’t a painter I would own a moving company.) In 2006 I needed a change so I made a change. I needed a transformation and the “Breakup Paintings” provided that energetic opportunity. I began to work on canvas 72”x52”. A size proportional to my body, to my reach. I use a notebook. Ideas are fleeting, they must be noted. I take photos as documents of states and situations which prompt the paintings. I am an abstractionist.. mostly.