Hughie O’Donoghue RA

Last night Hugie O’Donoghue gave us a wonderful talk about his some of his recent paintings and prints.  He is primarily known for his large figurative and abstractive paintings that explore myth and identity.  He showed some paintings that had recently been on displayed in Prague and one that will be at the RA next summer.  He explained how he felt that working with the figure it was important that the work should be life size which is why so many of the canvases become so large, one was about 16ft by 8ft.  In the photo he was standing next to it and it really emphasised the huge physical effort that must be involved in making such works.

He then moved on to some of his print works, starting with another large piece from about eight years ago, a crucifixion triptych.  This was also large scale with each section being 8ft by 2ft.  He described how he encountered working with carborundum (in a manner similar to the Gotez technique) to make these images.  Compared to direct etching he felt it offered a more painterly approach.  He also liked the way that if he made a mark and then corrected it, because the medium was drying evidence of the first mark remained, showing traces of his thoughts. He also liked the method as it allowed him to work on the plates in his own studio rather than in the printing studio.

He then showed a set of colour prints based on the lives of people from the West Coast of Ireland where his mother was born and a region he still has ties to.  These images were much smaller and a few had been lent to us to show at our Summer Exhibition.  Having seen them earlier in the year it was interesting to learn more about then as they had a great intensity of mark and colour.  While smaller, about 1 ft by 2 ft they still were life size in that they had a close up head in the image.  Hughie described how he would draw one plate, with the carborundum for printing in black, and use a second plate for the application of colour.

Finally he showed a series of monoprints that he produced during a 2 week stay in Venice with printer Simon Marsh.  During that time they were producing up to 10 images a day, adjusting and reworking plates to refine the images.  On arrival he noticed a sculpture near where he was staying of a figure carrying a drum, while carved in stone it had a metal nose, and he used this head as a starting point for many of the earlier prints.  Later also being inspired by graffiti he discovered nearby.  It was interesting to see the development of these sequences of prints as areas were wiped away or strengthened as the images progressed.

An excellent evening I feel we were privileged to encounter an artist who has evidently pursued a career producing work that is highly important to him rather than being swayed by current fashions and in doing so has created an extraordinary body of work.