“Nascent” – Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches (unavailable)

This lucky painting has gone to live in beautiful San Jose, USA with a generous patron.

Alex Kanevsky

Nicholas Samorì

Adrian Ghenie

Nancy Grossman

(Honourable mention as she’s not a painter, but a proper multi-disciplinary artist)

This is one half of a pair of self-portraits that I’m working on.

I’m also very pleased to say that I won this years Carter Jonas prize for a young artist for my 2010 painting “Imploder”. My cohorts in the competition were really, really top notch artists so I was doubly pleased to win it.

“Imploder” – Oil on board, 20 x 24 inches

They say you can judge a person by the company they keep, so check these peers out – John Shinnors, Donald Teskey, Michael Canning, William Crozier, Hughie O’Donoghue, Colin Crotty, Mick O’Dea, Martin Gale, Mike Fitzharris and the rapidly ascending Sheenagh Geoghegan.

“Duel” – Pencil and acrylic on Arches paper, 30 x 22 inches

“Playing possum” – Pencil and acrylic on Fabriano paper, 40 x 32 inches

“Dialogue” – Oil on canvas, 36 x 24 inches

“Nightmare” – Ink on Arches paper – 20 x 16 inches

“He loves me” – Oil on canvas, 24 x 20 inches

“He loves me not” – Pencil and acrylic on Bockingford paper, 24 x 20 inches

The orchestra practicing

“Pictures of an exhibition” -  A collaboration between Cork School of Music student, pianist & composer Pierre O’Reilly and artist Stephen Murphy, based on mutual mastery of technique and appreciation for the classical tradition presented in a contemporary manner.

The artist will present a selling exhibition of paintings and works on paper in the Cork School of Musics foyer, fronted by Joanne McCarthy, current Director of New Ashgate Gallery, Farnham, Surrey. The exhibition will be open to the public, admission free, until 7pm on Friday 12th. The official reception begins at 7.00pm with the concert following at 8.30pm sharp.

The evening will culminate in a one-off live concert composed by O’Reilly, conducted by Conor Palliser and performed by the student orchestra of the Cork School of Music.

This special event follows on from the 2009 collaboration, ‘Uba’s Story’ – a composition by Mr. O’Reilly performed by the CSM student orchestra with a live projection of narrative imagery created by emerging illustrator Rosemary Byrne.

About the Concert

The concept of O’Reilly’s composition and the event itself is a reference to a very famous piece of classical music called ‘Pictures at an Exhibition’ by 19th Century Russian composer Modest Mussorgsky. A suite of ten movements composed for piano, it is a well-known showpiece for virtuoso pianists.

About the Exhibition

This exhibition of ten selected works in oil on canvas and drawing/mixed media on paper forms a visual metaphor and narrative of the chronology of ‘growing up’. The first five works are related to early childhood – themes of play specifically. Works six and seven are related to adolescence, and works eight, nine and ten relate to ‘grown up’, or as the artist terms, “existential matters”.

About the Technique

Murphy has meticulously developed a rich library of visual imagery, symbols and subject matter alongside a strict base of classical painting techniques: draughtsmanship, composition and colour theory. His works provoke extreme reactions in viewers, with many of his works not created to be simply aesthetic in manner, but to take the viewer to a place beyond emotive connection and to a place rich in reference, style, technique and context.

About the Composer

Pierre O’Reilly is a composer and pianist whose early travels and experiences have deeply influenced his rich vein of work. His solo recitals comprising of moody and expressive tones with an often dramatic style along with observations on his compositions have enveloped audiences wherever he has performed.

O’Reillys suite for orchestra and choir ‘Uba’s Story – A Tale From The Wild’ premiered last year and solidified his position as a great emerging talent.

The forthcoming collaboration with artist Stephen Murphy titled ‘Pictures Of An Exhibition’ will enhance O’Reillys innovative and thrilling dynamic with orchestra and choir. He is presently studying for a Bachelor of Music at the Cork School of Music.

~With thanks to Ms. Joanne McCarthy

Now might also be an ideal time to drop a tickle bomb -  I am pleased to announce that my next solo exhibition will be on March 12th 2010 in Cork City in the Cork School of Music. However, it won’t simply be a silly little exhibition of paintings, drawings and prints, as you can probably guess from the venue there’s going to be a little music involved.

More detailed details to follow, but I can tell you that my good friend and giftedly talented composer / musician Pierre O’Reilly is going to be organising something special with the students of the school to accompany each of the pieces on show. And it’s going to be unreal. More details soon hopefully~

Video shot and edited by Joe Cogan (jmcproductions.co.uk)

Photo by Ian Cox (wallkandy.net)

“Winter Wonders – A fantastic exhibition of craft, textiles, paintings, prints, sculpture, ceramics, books, magazines, cards & jewellery”

Opening Saturday November 14^th

Join us for a Winter Wonders themed Reception

at the Gallery on Saturday 14^th November, between 10am – 1pm

“For more than 60 years the Humanitarian deeds of a very courageous and selfless Irish man have gone practically unnoticed in Ireland.  During World War II Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a unique and innovative Kerry man was the instigator of an organisation in Rome that saved over 6,500 lives in Italy.  To make up for this great lack of acknowledgement in Ireland this  weekend from  14th -16th November has been dedicated as a Memorial to this great man, in his home town of Killarney.”

Pictured is the Monsignor’s nephew Judge Hugh O’Flaherty with an oil on linen portrait of the Monsignor, by Cork Artist Stephen Murphy, centre, and Gerry O’Grady, Killarney Chamber of Tourism and Commerce
Picture: Eamonn Keogh (MacMonagle, Killarney)

Here’s the promo image for the show, a painting by Charlie Harper.

I unfortunately misinterpreted the brief and got hung up on the “Love” section, but hopefully no-one will notice… Check out their website for more details.

UPDATE 10/July/09:

Well a great night was had by all, my old alma mater the Limerick School of Art and Design was well represented. The Mill Street Studios exhibition space is both ginormous and beautiful and there was plenty of quality art and design goodies squeezed in there. To see all the current work check out the FTLO website. Kopparberg kindly supplied the drinks and there was a spectacular, because spectacle is the only word that can describe it, performance by Ruari Lynch. As everybody knows, exhibition openings aren’t about looking at art, but partying, so the party continued with us travelling into the lovely South William Bar, where I like to get a posh pie once in a while, and followed onto the excellent Spy Bar. Well done to Ivor and Shane who put a phoenomenal amount of work into the evening, and thanks to Hazel and the gang in the Mill Street Studios for accomodating us all.

The crowd on the night

My painting in situ

There’s always room for Kevin O’Keeffe

Cork Independent, Thursday 27th November 2008

Irish Independent, Saturday 15th November 2008

I’ve been very lucky in my life, over the course of it I’ve had the chance through coincidence and chance to meet pretty much all of my heroes. In fact, I’ve been using the archetypal hero as a theme in my work for a few years now and have had the opportunity to paint both portraits and homages to my own personal heroes.

I’m sad to say that unfortunately I’ll never have the chance to meet Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, a man who is the very definition of the word hero, but I wish to show my appreciation of his deeds in some small way. The great thing about being an artist is that when you find a cause that’s really worthy, you can use your talent to make something towards helping it. You see, the Monsignor was one of the greatest humanitarians over the course of World War II, and has been recognised with some of the highest accolades that can be awarded from countries as diverse as America, England, France and Israel, but is largely unheard of in Ireland, his home country.

On Friday 14th of October I went to Killarney to the opening of the Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty Memorial Weekend, an event that hopefully will raise awareness of this remarkable man. There was an excellent photographic exhibition in the upstairs of the Killarney Outlet Centre and after that there was a lunch with the Killarney Chamber of Commerce in the Malton Hotel. After the lunch I presented the painting with the Monsignors good friend Dr. Veronica Dunne, the famous singer. I was very honoured when she told me that I captured his likeness and the glint in his eye, which is a great compliment for an artist. It was also announced that the painting will be auctioned in February 2009 to raise money to make a permanent memorial for the Monsignor.

Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty was a priest from Killarney, Co. Kerry. The Monsignor was a Vatican priest during the second world war and was responsible for saving more Allied lives than any other single person during the war. It was his vision and selflessness that helped create an underground network of safehouses that housed and hid escaping Allied POW’s and Roman Jews.

O’Flaherty began the war feeling no particular affinity for either side. He began visiting Allied prisoners in POW camps and sending letters home to their families confirming they were still alive and passing on messages. He became even more involved in 1942, when the occupying Germans began a crackdown on the prominent Jews of Rome, and aristocratic anti-fascists. Some of the Monsignors closest friends were included in these demographics and he could not stand by and see them taken away to their deaths, so he began hiding them in monasteries, in convents, and even in his own residence.

In 1943, he widened his net of safety to include any of the Jews whom the Nazis had begun herding onto cattle cars for their horrendous last journey. He took in escaped British POW’s, and acquired the partnership of Sir Francis Osborne, British Minister to the Vatican. It is likely because of this alliance that the British extended a line of credit through the Vatican bank for the monsignor, to finance his clandestine activities. In no time, the cleric and his network were giving their life-saving assistance to refugees of any nationality or creed who approached them. They had thousands of people wanted by the Nazis hidden away in nearly every catholic building in Rome, on every floor from the cellar to the attic, in every edifice from private homes to seminaries and convents.

Colonel Herbert Kappler, the chief of the gestapo in Rome soon identified O’Flaherty as a marked man, and began to look for a way to get past the restriction of O’Flaherty’s diplomatic immunity as a member of the Vatican. He hunted the man and set traps for him at every opportunity. The stories about O’Flaherty’s eluding these traps are legendary. He is supposed to have disguised himself at different times as everything from a nun to a coal man in order to escape capture off Vatican grounds. Kappler’s frustration at not being able to apprehend the elusive Irishman even led him to an attempt to have O’Flaherty forcibly dragged off Vatican property by a couple of Gestapo assassins. The Germans were thwarted once again when members of the Swiss guard pummeled them and sent them running.

Now what really illustrates the Monsignors heroic qualities are how he viewed everyone as a person and all people as equals. When the Allies arrived in Rome in June 1944, and began to punish German soldiers, O’Flaherty demanded that German prisoners should be treated properly as well.

The most amazing example of this was when he agreed to a request from Colonel Kappler, who was imprisoned for a life sentence after the Nuremberg trials, to assist in the relocation of his family back to Germany.  During Kapplers imprisonment, he had only one visitor for ten years. Monsignor Hugh O’Flaherty, who called once a month to see him. Their Friendship developed over the years, and Kappler later wrote of the Monsignor that “to me he became a fatherly friend”. Kappler was baptised a Catholic by the Monsignor in 1956.

There are even more incredible stories about his man, and the movie “The scarlet and the black” is a dramatization of his life if you’re interested in seeing his life in Hollywood style.

I donated the painting for auction in Killarney in February 2009, where hopefully some philanthropic soul will buy it to add money to the fund to create a permanent memorial for this heroic man.

(some details sourced from here)