Lesley-Ann O’Connell—Surface in Motion

Lesley-Ann O’Connell makes paintings that are about colour, surface and space. Very often the act of creating a painting begins as a problem to be solved: what would an entirely red painting look like, what would a black painting look like, how do you paint a vase of flowers without painting a vase of flowers? A tall order presents itself.

From then on begins a journey through paint that hinges on intention and incident. Ideas are pulled through a bustling studio and re-emerge in an unexpected way. This happens through a messy, inquisitive daily practice where turpentine that has been muddily tinted from rinsing out brushes gets thrown over painted surfaces and old palettes are scraped and then printed over fresher colours.

O’Connell embraces a general befuddlement towards the act of painting and its possibilities. With this scramble to render fleeting inspirations through paint, what is common to all pieces is a determination to give each painting its own reality and sense of an independent world. She seeks for each piece to have its own internal logic, its own laws governing its making where relationships such as colour, line and composition answer directly to the needs of the picture. - words by Bartosz Kolata 

Biography:

Lesley-Ann O’Connell is an artist living and working in Co. Meath. She graduated with a Masters in Fine Art from the National College of Art and Design in 2014 where she also received her degree in 2008. She has exhibited in group shows within Dublin as well as Carlow, Galway, Waterford and Leitrim. Her work is held in the public collections of The Office of Public Works, Impact and AXA Ireland. This is her first solo exhibition.