Patrick O'Reilly
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Art + Soul
Art and Sculpture exhibition at the K Club 10th August - 1st September, 2024Gormleys is delighted to bring Ireland's largest art and sculpture event to the K Club in Kildare.
Art + Soul International Art and Sculpture Exhibition will take place from 10th August - 1st September and will feature over 300 artworks by some of the biggest names in international & Irish art.
The exhibition will be open daily from 11 am- 7 pm. Entry is free with guided tours at 12, 2 and 4 pm.
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Business Post: Meet the Artist: Patrick O’Reilly
Kilkenny sculptor on art as storytelling through images and the key influences on his work PHILIP CARTON JUNE 13, 2024
Meet the Artist: Patrick O’ReillyKilkenny-born Patrick O’Reilly is one of Ireland’s most celebrated contemporary sculptors. His work draws from both classical and Mannerist influences as well as from the imagery of contemporary comic and pop art.
The universe he constructs evokes reverie, poetry, history and especially childhood themes through its iconic animal, the teddy bear, which O’Reilly brings back to life with his own humour and playfulness.
O’Reilly believes that art is “storytelling through images. All of the pieces tell a story, generally of the human condition: loneliness, hopelessness, isolation and desperation. But there are many stories too reflecting on redemption and recovery. Sometimes I disguise these melancholic subjects with humour.”
He often references the animal kingdom to express his fears and sentiments about life, and uses the much-loved light-hearted figure of the bronze teddy bear to explore these darker issues.
“A teddy bear is a very non-threatening animal, but a bear is very vicious, so it’s that combination. He’s got enormous power. He could eat you, but he is very gentle. Teddy bears are very universal,” he said.
He has created monumental large-scale public commissions all over the world including a Strolling Bear in Paris and a bear wearing a tutu in Cape Town and closer to home works can be seen in Dublin City and Adare Manor.
O’Reilly’s work can be seen in Gormley’s Art + Soul International Art & Sculpture Exhibition at the Castlemartyr Resort, Cork, which runs until June 23.
See: gormleys.ie
How my artistic journey began
From a very young age I had a passion for drawing and making simple sculptural things. This deep interest continued and remained in my heart throughout my days in art college and beyond. It was my constant dream to be an artist.
Where did the title for my current show came from
The title Art and Soul is really a manifestation of the vibrations that should emanate from a piece of art to a viewer. A piece of art should first appeal to the soul and then to the head.
Artists who have influenced me
Barry Flanagan and Egon Schiele.
My favourite piece of music when I need inspiration
Richard Wagner. I also enjoy contemporary music. I tend to listen to the same song repeatedly.
Rather than constantly hearing different songs, which encourages you to listen to the words, by listening to the same one, you melt into the song, stop focusing on the words, and just feed off the energy. It's actually far less distracting.
I have a collection of
Murano glass.
An artist whose work I would collect if I could
Anthony Canova.
A place that means a lot to me
Venice.
A place I’d like to visit
African desert.
In another life I would have been
Marco Polo.
The best piece of advice I ever received
“To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart, is true for all men,—that is genius. Speak your latent conviction, and it shall be the universal sense; for the inmost in due time becomes the outmost.”
(Ralph Waldo Emerson, Self-Reliance: An excerpt from Collected Essays, First Series).
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Sculptor Patrick O’Reilly: ‘I still hold out on the dream to light up Dublin’s Pigeon House chimneys’
Patrick O'Reilly on a classic book, solitude and LED lights Irish Independent | Ciara DwyerPatrick O'Reilly (64) is a sculptor renowned for his bear sculp-tures. Born in Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny, he lives in Howth, Co Dublin, with wife Gerardine.
Tell us about your childhood
Ballyragget is a small rural town where one could feel perfectly alone.
It allowed me the privilege and pleasure of daydreaming.
Three words to describe you
Loyal, mercurial and gentle.
Tell us about your schooldays
My schoolhouse was in a beautiful old building with no electricity and with an open fire in winter.
I remember the teacher arriving each morning on his bicycle and boiling water for his instant Nescafe on a small paraffin stove.
What did you read as a boy?
Ratty, Mole. Mr Toad and all the humanised creatures in Kenneth Grahame's masterpiece The Wind In The Willows were my absolute friends. The humanisation of the characters in the book is a theme that has continued right through my own work and has been an enormous influence on me.
Tell us about fishing and the bliss of solitude
I really liked to go fishing. In those tranquil moments of pure solitude, I could dream of a life far away, a very different life. Being alone was not a choice but a necessity. This is still the case.
Talk to us about art as a boy
I was passionate about drawing, being creative and using my hands. I enjoyed breaking up old linoleum tiles into rough squares to make mosaics pictures.As the youngestof seven, you were sent to Mungret College boarding school in Limerick with the Jesuits when you were aged 11. Tell us more.
The Jesuit priests were incredibly supportive of my creativity and they provided me with a studio in a disused dormitory. Two of the priests demonstrated enormous kindness when ther helped me to prepare my portfolio and supported me to sit the entrance exam for Belfast Art College.
Why are you a sculptor?
It is all I have ever dreamt of doing. I feel so privileged. l am obsessed with trying to put emotion into three-dimensional form.
What does it take to be a sculptor?
Your life. A burning desire and afr enduring compulsion.
Best advice you were given?
Ralph Waldo Emerson once wrote. To believe your own thought, to believe that what is true for you in your private heart,is true for all men.
Best advice you give?
In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine.
Tell us about working with bronze and what you have in this new exhibition
Bronze is a noble material and is forever. Bronze sculptures lost at sea more than 2,000 years ago have been recovered in a better condition than the day of manufacture.I will show some previously unseen new abstract pieces.
They are the culmination of a number of years of development: oil on canvas with bronze, a hybrid between sculpture and painting.
What drives you?
I am driven by the possibility of what I might do tomorrow,
Tell us about finding inspiration for your work
Inspiration comes from within. It is associated with my activities of reading, music and walking alone. I put up my sail and draw freely from where the wind takes my imagination.
Despite tragedies, sets backs. disappointments and dark times, life goes on.
Talk to us about your bear sculptures
The bears represent resilience.
They stride forward reaching towards future better days. Thope the bears give solace, strength and courage. And to know the journey is so important, not the destination.
Do the other arts influence you?
I have a deep interest and passion for classical ballet and dance. My other enduring passion is music ranging from Wagner to U2.
Do you have any dreams for Dublin art?
I still hold out on the dream to light up the Pigeon House chim-neys. In this age of LED it is more possible than ever.
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