John O'Grady

Wandering through the landscape we're touched by its mood and light, we live in it, and it lives in us. This magical union is where my paintings are born.

How can I make tangible on a paint surface a world that is full of magic and poetry?
My finished pieces do not mirror a subject matter but are a representation of emotions felt in a specific time or place.
Often the fleeting effect of a particular light and colour in nature are held somewhere in my visual memory.
At some point, this takes centre stage on the painting I am working on.
It may appear during the process of creation without an obvious connection to the subject matter at hand and yet, it adds another dimension, a particular atmosphere.

These processes are ways and means by which I express my connection to nature in all its richness and variety.





I am an Irish artist living and working in Provence France
My work is rooted in the Romantic landscape tradition.

I hold a Bachelor Degree in Fine Art (BFA).

My work is in collections in France, the USA, Great Britain and Ireland.

1987-1989 Foundation Art course - Birmingham Polytechnic- Distinction

Fine Art Degree in painting
1989 - 1992 Cheltenham College of Art.- 2:1 with first in Art History with commendation

Meditations in Time of Civil War

2021

Group exhibition invited artists

The Hamilton Gallery, Sligo, Ireland




Among Schoolchildren

2020

Group exhibition invited artists

The Hamilton Gallery, Sligo, Ireland




Nineteen Hundred and Nineteen
2019

Group exhibition invited artists

The Hamilton Gallery, Sligo, Ireland


Crazy Jane

2017

Invited artists

The Hamilton Gallery

Sligo Ireland


A Terrible Beauty

2016

Invited artists Summer Group exhibition.

Hamilton gallery, Sligo Ireland



Event: 'Republic',

Dates: Aug. 1, 2016 - Sept. 30, 2016

Venue: Olivier Cornet Gallery, Dublin, Ireland
Event: 2016 - ‘A Terrible Beauty is Born’, Group show invited artists, Hamilton Gallery, Sligo, Ireland
Dates: Aug. 1, 2016 - Aug. 30, 2016

Venue: Hamilton Gallery, Sligo, Ireland

Dates: July 1, 2015 - Aug. 31, 2015

Venue: Lowe Holland Gallery, Penryn, Cornwall
Group Exhibition.
Event: 'The Lighthouse' Tondo exhibition' 2013

Dates: June 1, 2013 - July 1, 2013

Venue: Wicklow Lighthouse, Co Wicklow, Ireland
Group work on show from the Art collective 'Tondo'