landscape paintings

Landscape works are created from a combination of sources, memory, painting and drawing on site, and passages from my poetry. Many paintings are influenced by my Irish roots and love of nature on both sides of the Atlantic.


botanical paintings

A gallery of botanical based works


small works & en plein air paintings

This gallery shows smaller works and paintings done on site. These works often inform larger paintings.



abstract expressionist paintings

My abstract paintings are derived from my poetry. I work in series typically, this ongoing body of work is called "Wayfinding", which explores the synthesis of language, through poetry, visual art, music, and film., in collaboration with other artists. It’s a creative journey of seamless expression, storytelling, and emotional connectivity. This has been the foundation of solo exhibitions and an ongoing body of work.


poetry

I enjoy writing poetry, I started writing during the pandemic in 2020. I find it is now often the starting point for conceptual sources of ideas that inform my abstract works particularly. From the pandemic to today, writing has been an integral part of my process.COLLABORATION
Collaborating with other artists in music and film has been so exciting. I am honored to have several of my poems interpreted through the language of music, through the incredible musical compositions for cello and orchestra, written and performed by Harrison Cook. This ongoing endeavor will culminate in a series of works called Wayfinding". This project is an extension of the synthesis of language and storytelling.
Brandon Peterson, an award-winning international filmmaker, creates the direction and cinemaphotography of documentary films and visual poems. Our work together has won awards as Best Art Gallery and Museum film in 2023, and Best Film Shot in One Take as shown below in the reading of my poem Wayfinding.These collaborations will continue through 2024 and beyond.The poem and award-winning film below created by Brandon Peterson is the anchor poem in the ongoing Wayfinding body of work.

wayfinding visual poem


background

an Irish artist in the American South

Born in Dublin 1954, Michael works full-time from his studio in Marietta, 30 minutes north of the city of Atlanta, Georgia. He focused on abstract conceptual works during the pandemic, lockdown, and isolation. In June 2020 he began writing poetry to recall childhood memories, his life in Ireland, and indeed as a coping mechanism in a time of uncertainty. The intensity of this focus has led to a practice inspired by the overlap of visual and written language as mark-making and combined forms of expression and storytelling.This ongoing endeavor is called wayfinding through visual and poetic language. This body of work was the basis for his solo exhibition "Wayfinding" from January 7 until March 12, 2023, at the Marietta Cobb Museum of Art. A follow-up solo exhibition of Wayfinding was shown at The Quinlan Visual Arts Center in Gainesville, GA from June 15 through August 12, 2023.Michael graduated from the National College of Art & Design (NCAD) Dublin in 1975, and Birmingham Polytechnic, with a postgraduate in Industrial Design Engineering in 1977. As an award-winning designer, he moved to the US with his family in 1989 where he spent over 35 years in several "C" suite leadership positions in entrepreneurial companies in healthcare, science & technology, and professional services.Michael is represented by Robert Kent Galleries. He has exhibited in Sol Art Gallery, Dublin Ireland, Mason Fine Art Gallery, Atlanta Georgia, and several regional and local galleries in the southeastern United States. He had two large solo exhibitions of Wayfinding in 2023, at Marietta Cobb Museum of Art, Marietta, Georgia, and Quinlan Visual Art Center, Gainesville,Georgia. His work is sold throughout the US.

artist statement

Working on a large scale provides another dimension for expression, and as I progress there is a consolidation between landscape and abstract expressionism. I use a lot of texture in my work and feel a tactile quality and three-dimensionality in the surface with built-in layers of color, editing, removing, and adding elements is not unlike the process of writing and finding the right words to express with economy of language. In short, the synthesis of language to connect and move.The seamless expression excites me, the search and expression of emotional connection with the viewer, providing just enough for the viewer to participate, interpret and engage in the work. I like to think I can draw the viewer into the paintings, and they discover interesting passages each time they engage with them, especially over time. I strive for consistency in my visual vocabulary that I continue to extrapolate and explore as I progress in my obsession with the materiality of paint and its boundless possibilities.


previous works

The paintings below are some of the selected works sold and commissions undertaken for clients throughout the United States. Wooden stretcher bars and cradled wood panels are all handmade in-house to any size and only the finest materials are used in all hand-stretched duck cotton, and linen canvases.Open for commissions through collaboration with designers and clients. To enquire, and to learn more about the secure engagement process, send an email through the "Get in touch" button in the footer.


Interview on NPR affiliate WABE

Interview on Common Éire