Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts will be showing an exhibition of recent landscape paintings by Huntsville artist Conor O’Brien from February 10 through March 10, 2023. The artist will present a painting demonstration on Sunday, February 19th from 2 p.m.-4 p.m. O’Brien is best known for his paintings about natural and man-made landscapes using traditional oil painting materials and techniques.
Originally from Massachusetts, O’Brien has lived in North Alabama for many years—as he says, “…much longer than anywhere else.” Most of O’Brien’s works are painted in the realist tradition. Of his work, the artist says, “I paint mostly about northern Alabama and southern Tennessee. Occasionally, when traveling, I paint about other places. Most of my paintings are done on prepared panels, and I sometimes paint on prepared linen canvas. I apply textures to the surface of the panels and canvases to give an interesting ground over which to paint. My paintings range in size from just a few inches to as much as 48 inches. I sometimes use a wide format, making the horizontal dimension several times as much as the vertical. I use a limited palette which consists of a warm and cool version of each of the three primary colors, plus white, and two or three earth colors. Occasionally, I limit my palette even more by using only red, yellow, black and a white.” O’Brien shares, “My work has been shown in art museums, galleries, and can be found in a number of private and public collections across the country.”
O’Brien says, “It’s a little difficult to say why I paint about a particular place. For me, the aesthetic considerations when experiencing a location involve more than any ‘traditional’ beauty. The abstract shapes of the land, the angles formed by perspective, the juxtaposition of natural and artificial elements of the environment—all of these things interest me. And there is often some other element about the scene that draws me to it which I can’t explain. To me, there is beauty and interest in every place and thing, no matter how ‘mundane’. In fact, I enjoy painting about ‘mundane’ subjects, and have little interest in searching for those perfectly picturesque places which are the subject of so many landscape paintings.”
The Kennedy-Douglass Center for the Arts is free and open to the public Monday - Friday from 9-4 and on Sundays from 1-4. The art center is located at 217 E. Tuscaloosa St. Florence, AL and can be reached by calling 256-760-6379.