Eileen O’Sullivan (1992, Meath) is a painter based in Dublin, Ireland. She graduated from the National College of Art and Design in 2015 with a BA in Fine Art Painting and Art History.
“In my practice, my key concern is to investigate the multiplicity of paint. Paint is a very versatile material. It surprises me how often the methods of making are overlooked by art critics or art historians in discussion and commentary on art. My recent body of work has been constructed by experimenting with a range of making processes, which, for me, are linked to different states of mind, or different thought processes. I aim to focus my awareness on the formal elements of the material; line, shape, texture, form, tone, pattern, colour, composition. I aim to create visual interventions within my body of work which allow the attention of the viewer to bounce from the material qualities of the paint, to the illusions created by the brushstrokes. I am interested in how the application of paint can alter the viewers perception of the imagery.
Although my methods vary, I prefer to work with soft bristled brushes, oil paints and well primed canvas or board. Some of my works are completed in one sitting, while others are built up over months of sporadic applications of paint. The time frame often dictates the consistency of the paint or the methods of application. The method of application and the composition are intrinsically connected.
For me, painting is a reflective tool, as well as a communicative tool. It is important to me to have a personal link to my source images, so I mainly work from family photos or photos from my every day experiences. The youngest of a family of eight, my work often focuses on depicting the closeness of my familial relationships, using interior scenes derived from family photos. My work hinges upon taking the familiar, the comfortable and transposing it into something special through exploring the versatility of the language of paint.”