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Tony O’Malley HRHA (1913-2003)
PEDRO BARBA - ISLA DE GRACIOSA, 1993
oil on board
signed with initials and dated lower left; signed again, titled and dated
on reverse; also with artist’s archival number [no. 2466] on reverse; with
typed Taylor Galleries exhibition label on reverse
48 by 36in. (121.92 by 91.44cm)
Provenance:
Taylor Galleries, Dublin
Exhibited:
‘Tony O’Malley at 80. Recent Work’, Taylor Galleries, Dublin, 21 October -
6 November 1993, catalogue no. 17 (illustrated on front cover of
catalogue); ‘An Advocate For Art : A Tribute To Jim O’Driscoll SC’, Irish
Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, 6 July – 15 August, 2010
Literature:
Ed. Lynch, Brian, Tony O’Malley, Scolar Press in Association with the
Butler Gallery, Kilkenny, 1996, p. 310 (full page illustration)
Pedro Barba, on the island of Graciosa, is close to Lanzarote in the Canary
Islands. The island is surrounded by an uninhabited archipelago which is a
nature reserve. It has formed the subject of another work by O’Malley now
in the collection of IMMA. The painting, like much of O’Malley’s later
oeuvre, can be considered joyful in mood. This is largely due to the light
tonality, bright colours and almost playful juxtaposition of forms that
appear to foat across the space of the wood. O’Malley preferred to paint
on wood or board as opposed to canvas. The former enabled him to carve
and scrap into the surface and to create almost sculptural work rather than
being restricted to conventional painting. In Pedro Barba, Isla de Graciosa,
O’Malley’s interventions into the wood are very evident. He has drilled
sequences of holes into various parts of the painting. For example such
lines are visible in the large blue rectangular element in the upper part of
the composition and along the edge of the yellow element in the lower
right. The holes, which appear to be made by a screwdriver or nail are
highlighted in diferent coloured paints. Elsewhere scratch marks make
what could almost be described as existential marks which disrupt the
painterly surface and introduce a more tangible quality into the work.
Dr. Róisín Kennedy
April 2012
€20,000-€30,000 (£16,393-£24,590 approx).
The Jim O’Driscoll Collection WHYTESS I N C E 1 7 8 3
,
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