Tony O'Malley
Tony O’Malley 1913-2003, is celebrated as one of the major figures in Irish 20th Century Art. He was born in Co Kilkenny and worked as a bank clerk before becoming a full-time artist, from the age of 35. Self-taught, he moved to St. Ives in Cornwall in 1960, where he came into contact with many of the leading artists in the community, including Terry Frost, Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, Bernard Lynch and Bryan Wynter. In 1973 O’Malley married Canadian artist Jane Harris. Through the mid-70s they regularly visited the Bahamas, Lanzarote, and The Isles of Scilly, that inspired an infusion of vibrant colour in his work. In 1990 Tony O’Malley and his wife Jane O’Malley moved back to Ireland. In 1993 Tony O’Malley was elected a Saoi of Aosdána. His works are represented in the most significant Irish public and private collections, and in important international collections of Irish art.
O’Malley was remarkably open and eager to experiment with various forms of expression in different media. He created a large body of original prints at Graphic Studio Dublin over many years through the studio’s visiting artist programme. His most chosen mode of expression at Graphic Studio being carborundum – a printmaking method often favoured by painters, that is capable of capturing painterly gestural movement, texture and brush strokes. Tony O’Malley’s lyrical carborundum pieces are deeply connected to the landscape, capturing the character and rhythm of nature. His gestural forms transcend physical representation, portraying a place not only as it is seen but as it is felt and remembered—an essence that goes beyond the visible.