We sat down and talked with Fatal Flaw contributor and cover artist for Volume 12: ARRIVAL. Talking with Bart, we learned how he defines “landscape”, his relationship with AI, the spirituality of ovals, his profound connection to Dublin, and “a touch of magic.” 

See Bart’s stunning paintings, and more artwork and writing, in Vol 12: Arrival, available now!

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Fatal Flaw: Your paintings are abstract but suggest a wild landscape. Can you tell us how you interpret the landscape of your paintings?

Bart O’Reilly: The theme of landscape has been a constant with me for as far back as I can remember. The work  mostly recalls  the landscape I grew up in. I was lucky enough to grow up in the Dublin Mountains where I could look out on the entire city and beyond. I spent a lot of time walking in the hills. The view was breathtaking and expansive. My sense of light and space  is all rooted here. The color however is improvisational and seeks to evoke emotional shifts and states. Color is never directly representational in the work.                

FF: It appears emotion drives your work. Would you say that is true, especially for your series “If I Still”?

BO: Yes this is very true. The work begins with a desire to explore color and spatial relationships. I don’t necessarily start with emotion but when I connect with a piece that connection is almost always emotional. The work draws emotional states out of me rather than me trying to imbue them in it . The beginnings are usually simple and material based. The work, when successful, proposes something to me during and  particularly after the act of making it. This is in a sense why I continue to do it. There is a surprise, a revelation or even an arrival.

FF:  What led you toward abstract work? Did you start with more representation artwork and develop an abstract sensibility? 

BO: I have always had an abstract sensibility. However growing up in a family with no art background I didn’t value or even recognize it. It wasn’t until I met the Irish artist Pauline Macey as a teenager that I ever thought there was value in the kind of way I looked at things. She gave me private lessons for two or three years at the end of secondary school in Dublin. She introduced me to the work of the Impressionists and Post Impressionists and helped me put together a portfolio for art school. I went through the usual figure drawing classes in NCAD (Dublin) but always gravitated towards abstraction. I painted a lot of impressionist landscapes in my parents house as a student but they always moved towards abstraction. I rarely got satisfaction out of direct memetic work. I respect it greatly in other artists and still enjoy the challenge of observational drawing, but the real work for me is in seeing beyond or through appearances. 

FF:  “As Brightness Reaches,” the cover art for Vol 12, has so many layers though the color palette is muted. Can you share how you created this effect?

BO: This is one of my genuine success stories. It is a rare work that is up there with some of my      absolute favorites. Usually after the initial rush of making a piece, I see things that I would like to be different. That bit is too dark or I wish this area  had more saturation. I can honestly say that after three years there is nothing I would change about this piece. It’s always funny to say this but, as with all of my favorites, I genuinely don’t know how I made it. There is an element of chance and maybe even dare I say a touch of magic. The process involves thinning out acrylic paint with lots of water and pre soaking raw unprimed canvas. This one happened very quickly and I really didn’t fuss with it too much.  I posted it on Instagram the day I made it and wrote something like, sometimes I wake up and know what to do. I must add that this  is rare!

FF: How did you choose the colors for your series “If I Still” and for “As Brightness Reaches” in particular? 

BO: I love crimson, violet and certain shades of purple. I honestly think that sometimes the colors choose me!

FF: Do you consider yourself a “landscape painter”? Why or why not?

BO: Not really. To me that brings to mind plein air painting and while I deeply admire that I have never given it any serious attention. I am very much a process driven painter, it’s the materials I work with that motivate me. The content evokes landscape because I think that is what I know best. I never work from references.

FF: Who are some of your favorite contemporary painters? What about their work stands out to you?

BO: Merlin James, Susan Frecon, Peter Shear, Elizabeth Magill, Tomma Abts, Mark Joyce, Brenda Goodman. I could go on, but I like them all for different reasons. 

With Susan Frecon it is the way she handles  color and the patient surfaces she creates. I saw a show of hers at David Zwirner a few years back and it has stayed with me ever since. They are very subtle and refined and they do something that I haven’t seen before. They move the conversation about modernist abstraction to a new place. She has found a way of making reductive meditative work without relying solely on the rectangle. The oval forms have a presence that speaks to something deeply primal and spiritual all at the same time.

FF: AI is changing the visual art terrain. How do you see AI art helping or hurting creatives and/or the creative economy? 

BO: I am embarrassed to admit this, but sometimes I talk to Chat GPT about ideas. It helps me think things through although I really think of it as an advanced search engine. Like all new technology we will have to adapt to it. The danger is that we have to use it and not allow it to use us. It is terrifying to see the tech oligarchy in this country grapple to control it. It is also terrifying how easy it will be to control a younger generation whose entire identity can be tied up in the interface of their phones. I do however think that people who think it can replace human artists do not know what art is. Art is more than a technique or a product. It is a response to being conscious. It is uniquely human and absolutely vital. It’s how we make sense of the world.

FF:  Who are some of your favorite historical painters? What about their work  impacts yours?

BO: Francisco Goya, J.M.W.  Turner, Casper David Freidrich, Mark Rothko, Gerhard Richter, Johannes Vermeer, Rembrandt Van Rijn, Vincent Van Gogh, Pablo Picasso, Henri Matisse, Hilma Af Kint, Agnes Martin, Alice Neel, Freida Kahlo, Philip Guston.

Yes these are all the A listers I know, but they are giants of the medium. Each adding something very much their own to it. If I had to pick one, Vermeer’s use of light is unfathomable. How he made those images is astounding to me!  

FF: What type of paints and canvases/surfaces do you like to work with most? 

BO: I’m mostly using acrylic on raw canvas these days, but I love oil on canvas too. I like to draw with pencil and charcoal on paper. And sometimes paint oil or acrylic directly onto wooden panels.

FF: Do you believe you are telling a story in your series “If I Still”? If so, what is the gesture of that painting’s particular story?

BO: That painting is a peaceful though sadness tinged epiphany. That is the story.

FF: Do you plan your paintings? If so, how and with how much detail?

BO: I plan the color and process, but they really exist as improvisations.

FF: Your painting titles intrigue viewers, hinting at a narrative within. How do you create your titles?

BO: The titles come from the poems I write. However the poems I write are often inspired by the paintings so it’s kind of circular.  I like when the title encourages open ended questions. I like to suggest rather than explicate. I may add that sometimes I enjoy a sense of confusion or multiple meanings. I am a big fan of James Joyce and I think he blew the English language wide open. I love his word play and his sense of humor.

FF:  What’s your favorite art museum or gallery that you’ve been to anywhere in the world? What about it makes the experience of viewing the artwork there singular and unexpected?

BO: The Prado in Madrid. Seeing Valezquez, Goya and Bosch all in one building blew me away. By the way Bosch is also huge for me, that twisted surrealism gets me everytime. But really it was Goya’s black paintings in Madrid that hooked me. I hope that if I lose my marbles in old age I will spend the time making work like that.  

FF: Tell us a bit about your career teaching art in Baltimore. Do you find that teaching integral to your creative life as a painter?

BO: I have had many different kinds of teaching experiences in the area. My teaching career started at The Providence Center in Anne Arundel County. Then I taught college for 10 years. I now teach at The John Carroll School in Bel Air. All of this has shaped me. The Providence Center was a day program for adults with disabilities. I loved the students there. While I was in graduate school I gave up painting for 4 years and made video and installation work. It really was teaching painting at  MICA from 2013-2022 in the Pre-College program that led me back to painting. I realized that it was what I knew best and more importantly loved most. I haven’t looked back since. 

FF: How do you handle feedback as an artist? For instance, what’s the ideal dialogue or language for you to receive constructive criticism on a piece?

BO: I have had my fair share of criticism, like anyone who attends art school and some plays in my head. I have realized that sometimes the cruel put downs from professors say more about them then they do about the person they are directed at. I have been told the floor was more interesting than my paintings. A certain professor told me to stop painting abstractly because she had done everything there was to do with abstraction. I was told that my work was abstract and predictable. And my favorite was, this is the kind of thing that would sell in a gallery. That last one was meant as an insult. The artist who said it ended up working in Dublin’s most prestigious art gallery.

But not to dwell on the negatives. Someone at a recent exhibition of my work asked me to tell them about the title of “As Brightness Reaches.” I told her about losing my parents and how the work was about arriving at a state of peace and acceptance. I looked at her and she had tears in her eyes. That is the most intense reaction I have had. It meant something to move someone like that. 

All that cruel stuff from teachers over the years has made me the kind of teacher that   encourages students. I would rather people make bad art than no art!

FF: In general, when you’re painting, how do you respond if things aren’t going according to your plan for the painting? What’s the next step for you in that scenario?

BO: Like most painters I usually have several on the go. Sometimes I turn the one that is not working to the wall and move on to another one. Other times the wisest thing to do when nothing is working is to stop, go upstairs , and have a cup of tea. Sometimes you are better off not painting. How and when things go well is still something of a mystery to me. I have learned not to make a bad day in the studio ruin the rest of my day. That comes with time and confidence.

FF:  What tips for success can you share with other painters, specifically abstract painters?

BO: I think looking at other artists and paint as much as time allows you to. Also getting a studio with other artists is priceless, especially when you are starting off. The comradery of a group of like minded people is priceless. It may seem like sitting around the studio talking is counter productive, but that’s where you really learn. I had that in grad school at MICA and at Load of Fun Studios from 2006-2012. Baltimore really finished my art education and I am indebted to the art scene that was thriving when I had a studio on North Avenue.

FF: The series “If I Still” has so much texture. How do you achieve this textured look?

BO: It is acrylic watered down to work like watercolor and the surface is the fabric of raw canvas. 

FF:  What is your favorite painting series or individual painting you’ve created so far? Why?

BO: I am really happy with some of the pieces I worked on in 2024. The series is called A Place in the Cold Dark Ground and is available through Tappan Collective at the moment. I decided to really push myself to make a lot of mid sized acrylics about home and loss. Loss of people and longing for a particular place and this series took on a life of its own. It meshed with the titles in a way that has not happened before and though rooted in a sense of loss ended up leaving me with a strong feeling of hope. The ones I am releasing later this year are even more hopeful in this sense, although they are beginning to be tinged with a deep concern for the political environment in this country and beyond..

I am this is
I oughta be fine by sunset.

Sometimes, there are no words
Maybe that’s why we don’t.

There’s no peace in the world 
I could say that I’ve tried 
The understated is mine
That elusive feeling
I won’t.

To be at peace in these times 
That would require a maniacal act of denial.

This double town wains
Not all the time ambient
But distant gaslights restrained.

Reminding my rejects
They get better with time
I imagine them benevolent benefactors 
That’s fine.

Yet here in the slip stream 
We’re losing our minds‍

FF: You’re also a poet and typically pair your paintings with poems. Can you tell us about that process? Do you write the poem based on the painting or vice versa...or neither?

BO: That changes, but usually fragments of language come while I am painting. Sometimes they are records or even mini artist statements.

FF:  What does “home” mean to you as an artist?

BO: I am most at home in the studio with a brush in my hand. Although I still consider Ireland  home.

FF:  What new projects are you working on?

BO: I am working on two new series for my gallery in LA. One will be released this July and another in October. The July Series is acrylic on raw canvas, the October will be different. I am working on a very dark painting for that, not sure where it is going yet.

FF: Where can people see more of your work in person and/or online? 

BO:  https://www.tappancollective.com/collections/bart-oreilly

Also I love studio visits so anyone who wants to set one up should email bartoreilly@gmail.com

FF: Just for fun, here are some rapid either/or questions. Cats or dogs? 

BO: Dogs

FF: Fantasy or sci-fi?

BO: Sci-fi

FF: Snowstorm or rainstorm?

BO: Snowstorm 

FF: Fiction or nonfiction books? 

BO: Fiction

FF: Horror movies or dramas?

BO: Dramas

FF: Drake or Kendrick Lamar?

BO: Kendrick Lamar

FF: Train or plane?

BO: Plane

FF: Morning or night?

BO: Night

FF: Pet shop or pawn shop? 

BO: Pet Shop

‍FF: Trees or flowers? 

BO: Trees

FF: City life or country life?

BO: City life