Eamon O'Kane

Is it possible to build or construct true bliss? In his novel Corrections(1975), Austrian author Thomas Bernhard (1931-1989) tells the story of a man named Roithamer, who wants to build a cone-shaped house for his sister, expecting the house to be a locus of bliss for its inhabitants. Most of us will understand the notion that, somewhere, there is a place or space that, metaphorically speaking, breathes happiness. We usually seek such a place in an unidentified Paradise-like space. Some people, however, believe that it is possible for humans to create such a Paradise – architects among them.

 

Eamon O’Kane (born 1974, Belfast, Northern Ireland) explores the ideological tropes and visual forms of modernist architecture in his paintings and immersive sculptural installations. 

 

His paintings feature the homes designed and built by various generations of renowned architects and designers, including Frank Lloyd Wright, Walter Gropius, Frank Gehry and Mies van der Rohe. Even if their architectural concepts display a wide range of variations, these icons of architecture share the fact that they saw themselves as visionaries – and are seen as such to this day – and that their designs and buildings are exemplars of near perfection. 

 

The artist explains: “My artworks are shaped by contemporary culture and society and the place or site in which they originated. Reality exists in the processes that attempt to make them happen. The modernist period in architecture and design was an interesting period in that respect in that so many people attempted to achieve different types of utopias and quite often failed nobly in the process. I often use colour (or the lack of it) to heighten certain emotional states in the paintings and to, in turn, point to seasonal changes and time passing. In my paintings I am interested in setting a stage for something to happen. Fields like science, architecture or engineering can have a much bigger impact on society than artworks. I see artistic practice as one viewpoint from which to look at the longer-lasting consequences of emerging technological environments, by (to coin Marshal McLuhan’s term) creating ‘anti-environments’ or ruptures for critical reflection.”

 

In addition, the work of Eamon O’Kane examines the legacy of Frederich Froebel on modern society. His installations could also be referred to as archives or "research-based-projects". They are participative in the sense that the audience can change the work by using the materials placed at their disposal. In a truly experimental way, the straightforward boundaries between production and reception have become permeable.

 

Eamon O’Kane received his B.A. in History of Art and Fine Art at the National College of Art and Design in Dublin, Ireland in 1996 and went on to earn his M.F.A. at the University of Ulster, Belfast in 1998 and later an additional M.F.A. in Design Technology at Parsons School of Design, New York in 2001. Since 2011 he is Professor of Visual Art at The Art Academy, Faculty of Fine Art, Music and Design, University of Bergen, Norway.

 

O’Kane has been awarded an Irish Arts Council Participation Project Award, a Norwegian Arts Council Grant, the EV+A Biennial Award, a Fulbright Award, a Pollock Krasner Foundation Award, and the Taylor Art Award.

He has had exhibitions in international galleries and museums such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Los Angeles; the Sheldon Art Museum in Lincoln, Nebraska; the Irish Museum of Modern Art in Dublin; and Museum Frieder Burda in Baden-Baden, Germany.

His artwork is in numerous public and private collections worldwide including Lentos Museum, Linz, Austria; Facebook META, Dublin; The Arts Council of Ireland Collection, Dublin; Deutsche Bank; Bank of America; Burda Museum, Baden Baden, Germany; Sammlung Südhausbau, Munich; Model and Niland Collection, Sligo, Ireland; Limerick City Gallery; FORTIS; DUBLIN 98FM Radio Station; Microsoft; Bank of Ireland Collection; Irish Contemporary Arts Society; Country Bank, New York; Office of Public Works; P.M.P.A. and Guardian Insurance; Donegal County Library; UNIBANK, Denmark; NKT Denmark; HK, Denmark; Den Danske Bank, Denmark; Sammlung Strack, Cologne, Germany; Letterkenny Institute of Technology; University Of Ulster, Belfast; Sammlung Winzer, Coburg, Germany; British American Tobacco, Bayreuth, Germany; Aspen RE, London; Rugby Art Gallery and Museum Collection.