Carolina. Painting

Robert O’Brien is an artist living and working in both London and Sweden, enjoying the stark contrast between the countries and their culture. Robert works in both oil and watercolour, and paints predominantly faces in isolation with minimal backgrounds in order to draw full attention to the subject’s face and expression without distractions. Allowing the viewer to start their own dialogue with the work – who might the subject be and what is their story. This is evident in Robert’s ongoing projects; “Abandoned souls” and “Post card project“. Robert enjoys working at speed, avoiding the chance of over working, of growing lethargic, “Prompting chance, Provoking accidents” (Francis Bacon) drifting off into a mindful state with subconscious reactions. His subjects are close friends and family as well as strangers and old photos. Robert has had work shown in numerous galleries including The National Portrait Gallery, The Mall Galleries and Palazzo Strozzi. In 2008 Robert was awarded 3rd prize in the prestigious BP Portrait Award and went on to be selected again in 2014. Robert has also been part of the “Mystery Postcard Portrait” by the National Portrait Gallery, London on several occasions, and was selected for The Columbia Threadneedle Prize 2016.