James O'Dwyer

I approach painting as a physical and intuitive process of construction, disruption and resolution. Working with blades, scribes, brushes and other tools, I build, scrape back, obscure and redraw the surface, allowing each action to influence what follows.

The paintings evolve through a dialogue between intention and chance. Layers of colour, gesture and erasure accumulate, preserving remnants of earlier decisions while opening up new possibilities. Each work becomes a record of its own making — a shifting balance between order and disorder, clarity and ambiguity.

My work draws variously upon on the visual complexity of the built environment and the sublime of the natural landscape - these explored through the material language of painting and the expressive possibilities of abstraction. I am interested in the moment when experimentation begins to cohere: when a painting achieves its own sense of presence, tension and resolution.

Influences and Inspiration:

I am an Irish-British Contemporary Abstract Painter. Originally from North London, I have lived in Malmö, Newcastle, and now live Bristol, My work draws inspiration from the urban hinter-landscapes, alongside of the wild remote places of the British Isles

Earlier series, su...

University of Newcastle-upon-Tyne Fine Art MA
Erasmus Scholar: Sveriges Lantbruksuniversitet, Sweden.

Motley Theatre Design Riverside Hammersmith. Postgraduate Theatre Design

Harrow School of Art (University of Westminster, London) Fine Art BA Hons 1:1

(Art Education PGCE UWE 2009)

Bristol & Bath:
2026 SWAT Open Studios
2024 HRE Contemporary Bristol - Group Show
Equinox Bristol Gallery Weekend
2022 RWA Open - Friends selection
2022 CassArt Solo show
Hamilton House Open Studio
2014 Hamilton House, Bristol. group show.
2013 RWA OPEN.
2011 Milsom Place, Bath group.
2009 Paintworks, Bristol group. Severnshed, solo.
2008 Hotwells Gallery, group.
2007 Drawing installation for Station, Bristol.
2005 ALLOY Centrespace Gallery, group.
2003 ‘RETOX’ festival with Jamaica Street Artists.
2001-8 Open Studios at Jamaica Street Artists.

SCA Papers award in 2003,
2005 showcase artist in ‘FIVE’ arts magazine

Previous exhibitions in London include:
Slaughterhouse Gallery, group.
Shad Thames Gallery, solo.
Whitechapel Open Studios.