From Ireland to Maine: Artist Christopher O'Connor

Today I have with me in the studio artist Christopher O'Connor. Thanks for coming in today. Hi, Lisa. How are you? I'm doing very well. So we happen to be taping this on St. Patrick's Day, and you and I were talking about the fact that despite the fact that you were from Ireland originally, St. Patrick's Day is not as big a deal for you. It's not as such a big deal. I mean, I love the pageantry Growing up, it was always fun because there were parades, but it's just never something I've completely gotten into. And I think, um, you know, my friends growing up, you know, you're, you're a teenager, you're like, I don't know what this is about. Why are we celebrating this? And so, you know, you j I just grew up that way, but, and, and I still don't quite understand what we're celebrating, but it's, it's fun. You know, it's a holiday. Um, people, it's, I guess one of the good things about it is it's a very joyful holiday. A lot of people seem like they really have fun on St. Patrick's Day. Sometimes maybe a little too fun. Um, but it's generally a good thing. Do You feel like having moved to Portland in 2012, do you feel like you've managed to bring some of your Ireland irishness with you? Do you feel like you maintain a connection with, with your home country? I do. Well, it's funny because I forget, I have an accent. I mean, as anybody who has probably an accent does. And so when I go out, I, I could be, I mean, every probably third person I bump into it could be at the store. Like I was at the store last week and this gentleman stopped me as I was paying. And he's like, so what part of Ireland are you from? And again, I forgot, I have an accent. I was like, oh, I'm from Dingle. And he's like, oh my God. He said, my son is down there at the moment, he's studying in Dublin, but he's visiting Dingle. And I get that all the time. Um, so many people have traveled to Ireland and even the place where I come from. Um, so when I'm over here, I feel like there's, I bump into Irish people all the time, and they're so curious about if they've never been back to Ireland. They have their, their parents were from Ireland, but they've never visited yet. So they're, they're very excited to bump in and, and ask questions. And, and I love it. I mean, it's, it's a great thing. I, being Irish has always been a positive thing. Um, I, I've really never run into people who find it a negative, uh, attribute. Um, and, you know, generally there's a jolliness, I think, to being Irish. Well, I'm interested in that, that idea of jolliness, because isn't there also a little bit of melancholy that Mm-hmm. ? Oh, yeah. Yeah. A lot of the music has, uh, one of my favorite pieces of music growing up, uh, was I think it was called the Lonesome Boatman. And it's a piece of music with tin whistle, and it's extremely lonesome. You can, it's, I think it's about an old fisherman who has maybe out at sea at last, or, or else the, the, the fishermen have not come home that evening. So, and that happened quite a lot, of course, which is ironic. What's a little ironic about things is a lot of Irish fishermen could not swim. Um, and yet they would be out in these treacher motors, in these little boats fishing. Um, but that's how they did it. Yeah. And actually where I come from, the area where I come from is there's, uh, the Blas Islands are in that area, and during the famine, that was one of the few places that wasn't affected by the famine because they mostly fished and they had their own community out in the island, and it was almost unaffected by it. It's just pretty interesting. So there's an interesting parallel between where you are now in Maine with the coast and the islands off the coast, and where you originally are from. Yes. And I, I felt like a natural attraction to go visit the islands. As soon as I got here. It was almost like reconnecting with something. And I read somewhere, and I, I dunno if this is true or not, but the geology of, um, main and the geology of Ireland, um, at one point when there was a super continent, they were connected. And I like to think of it that way right now, because when I paint the, um, the rock formations in Maine, they're, they're quite different from Ireland. But there's a, there's a connection at the same time, I'm, I'm remembering myself, climbing along those rocks as a kid, picking up sea shells, um, and looking into pools and seeing the seaweed and the colors and, and just getting lost in that. And that's kind of how I paint. How are the rocks different in Ireland? The, well, I think it's because of, there's so much moisture in Ireland. It's like so green, but everything has moss on them. And even the rocks that are way up off the, off the water where the water never reaches them, they have, they're covered in mosses and lichens, and it's really beautiful to look at. And there's so much life in their burling. Um, and I think one of the things I really like about that too is there's, there's a high degree of abstraction in there, but yet you, you know, your, your mind is rationally telling you what this is and what that is, but you can get lost in it really quickly. When I'm looking at your pieces, they, I mean, there's clearly a lot of lines to them mm-hmm. . And, um, at the same time, your technique is not necessarily based on straight lines. No, no. I actually, uh, the work, the piece I'm working on right now, it's like a four by four foot piece, and it's, I started drawing on Monday, and I have another day of drawing left on it. But I, I just love mapping it all out. Some of it will not stay. And by the time I'm finished, you will see rocks and you will see water. But, you know, if you look a little closer, it's all very abstract in there. There's squiggles, there's circles, there's angles, and, and if you take the time to slow down and look at that kind of, something opens up and expands, the rocks disappear. And it's almost like a state of mind. How did You get into the style of painting that you've chosen? I think part of it is I didn't take a, a normal route with art. Uh, I never went to art college. Um, and I think when, when I first started discovering art, it was true books, art books, because, you know, there were in the small town I was, uh, grew up in, there were, you know, there's not a museum. There's not, uh, access to, you know, artists that many artists. But, um, so I read a lot of books, and books really opened my mind and made me want to travel and want to see museums all over the world. And so then by the time I got to 19, I was finished with school. I mean, 18 finished with school. I I could not, I I did not want to go for four years somewhere, so I just got money together and traveled and all over Europe. And that was really eye-opening. And, and just seeing how other cultures live and not understanding the language, and you have to, you have to get the information in a different way, you know, by looking, connecting with people even though you don't speak the language, and how that opens up a different way of looking. Um, and then seeing the works you've always imagined, um, in books, seeing them in the museums, and then, uh, when you see anything in the flesh, it's different and it's got a, a vibrancy and a feeling that you don't always pick up in the, in a book. But, but now it kind of unleashes something. And from a very young age, from 16, I knew I wanted to be an artist. Um, some people are born that way. I think they just have a strong impression of something. Um, and so that's what I did. I just started painting. I came back, um, I was in my mom's house for a while, and then I would just paint, paint, paint, paint. And then there was some, there was some, um, person who was, um, who had a, I think it was a b and b or something like that, and they purchased like 20 paintings. So that allowed me to go off to Europe again and look at more art. And that kind of has how it has happened up to this point. Um, I just get a break somewhere and I'm able to continue doing what I do. And even to this day, I get to do it every day, which is lovely. But I think it's the, because I did, I didn't come at it through a route of, you know, going to college and all of those aspect, uh, expectations and aspirations. And a lot of people I've, I, I meet, um, they can feel a little lost after coming outta college. Um, because, you know, all the, um, the structures they had are, are now, you know, they're, they're let out into the world, and you have to get up in the morning and decide what you want to do. There's nobody maybe telling you, you need to do this. There's no class to go to. And that's, that can be kind of disorienting for people. And I never had that because I just, I just had to paint. Um, and I, you know, these, the books, the museums, I think I have a very romantic nature. So these things just made that just go haywire. Were there pieces or artists or places that you found particularly compelling? Sure. There were two books I got when I was 16. A friend of mine, Lenton One was Lust for Life, and the other was The Agony in the Ecstasy. And they were by Irving Stone, I believe. And one is on Michelangelo, uh, the Agony and the Ecstasy and Luster Life is on in some mango. And those are just those, those books just at 16 years of age, they just was like, oh my God, this is wonderful. They're dramatic, they're romantic. They're, they're full of like, following your dreams, but not knowing what's gonna happen. Um, it's, it's very thrilling. And it, it filled me with an awful lot of, um, drive and excitement to live a life like that. And then, you know, the started to, uh, um, discover the Impressionists and, and George Sera, who's like a pointless, that was very important to me because my approach is almost, um, I like building things up slowly. And George Cau was one of these artists who, even though he died very young, he, he just, you know, created dots, dots, dots, dots. Um, and he has an intriguing life because, um, he lived with his mom most of his life, even though he only, he died when he was maybe 30, I can't quite remember. But, um, he had an intriguing life. He would paint these really large pictures, um, and then try to figure out where he would hang them. But bit by bit he became well known. Um, but the process of making these pictures, and the thing about George Sarra though, was he was very scientific about his approach. That part is not interesting to me. Um, I, I'm not particularly scientific about my approach. It's, it's very kind of, um, how would I say it? Intuitive. It's an intuitive, because I think George ran into, I, if he had lived a little longer, he would've ran into that problem of what do you do after you have ironed out all of the kings to everything? You need to alter it again to find the creativity, because the creativity will die if you, if you know exactly how everything's going to fall into place. Is that possibly one of the issues with being in the academic world and is that things are laid out along a certain path based on mother, others believe to be important aspects of art or really anything else. Right? And then you get to the end of that path, and maybe all the questions haven't actually been answered, Right. In, in, in most cases, probably not. And in fact, a lot of the questions are only coming up now because you're out on your own and you have to make all the decisions yourself. Um, it it, that's why it would be good to have a group of people around you who are doing similar things, and they have the same drive and they have the same motivation, because that's almost like a little startup there. That's where people get really passing on ideas. And I, I've always been interested in the, in history where ideas seem to pop up at the same time in different places. It's like there's something in the ether, um, and people who have never known each other, you know, they'll start doing something along these similar lines. And I find that fascinating, that ideas could be, you know, the right time, the right place. They're ready. Uh, I'm interested that even as a younger person, you were reading about artists who, some of whom would be considered troubled mm-hmm. , I'm specifically thinking about Van Gogh. Mm-hmm. . Um, and that didn't concern you. You didn't think, oh, I don't wanna be troubled like Van Gogh. Sure. You said, well, I'm willing to, to step into that space of not knowing. Yeah. I mean, I, I think that was a, it wasn't a conflict initially for me because it was just so exciting to discover new, new stories. Um, but I think over time, I, I started to wonder about, um, an artist having, you know, the stereotype of the artist having the troubled life. They're broke, they're struggling. Um, they, you know, they're, they're having to ask for, um, you know, people to help them out in places or, or to get materials. But I've never really believed in that aspect. I've never believed an artist has to be troubled to create great work. Um, it's just like in movies where protagonists are always the dark ones, and they're the ones that engage us more for some reason. But I think it would be more interesting to have stories where the protagonists are actually not troubled, but, but leading people in actually great spaces and I great areas. And that could be thrilling too. It, it doesn't always have to be, oh, you know, this artist struggled all his life, never sold a painting, and now ev all his work is in museums all over the world, and priceless. Um, you know, I, I would like to be an artist who's living, making a living and enjoying what I'm doing and not have to be, you know, have a troubled past or personality to create work that is engaging. When I was, I was listening to a, a book about Van Gogh, and one of the things I was struck by was his belief in himself. Mm-hmm. . And, and that was what it was kind of, it was a both end. It was mm-hmm. both, um, very helpful for moving him forward in his artistic career, and also caused a lot of conflict with his family and people around him. So I wonder if there's a way to, to kind of encapsulate or capture somehow that drive that, that he had and not necessarily have it lead towards this brokenness and this sort of the trope of the troubled artist that you're describing. Yeah. Because it's, what's challenging sometimes is you, you know, and I think as an artist, and this really kind of could be a lot of different types of people, but you get, you can get so involved in what you do to, you know, to the exclusion of everything around you sometimes. And that can create troubles, I think. So you, you have to create, you know, balance in life. And, and balance to me is, is about working daily, working a certain amount of hours daily, and then, you know, having time to also spend with your family and do things that need to be done outside of, you know, painting. But ultimately, I need to paint every day, because that seems to be the only thing that gives me true meaning about why I'm alive. And I don't even always have words to describe that, but hopefully some of it comes up in, in my work. You're the youngest of five, Youngest of, I better be, I better be right about this. Sometimes small numbers can be trickier. Um, six. Six. Mm-hmm. . Okay. So they're Four brothers and sister. Okay. Did anybody else in your family go into art? No, they didn't. And that's the bizarre thing. It's, uh, maybe not that bizarre, but there wasn't really a lot of art growing up in the town. I, I, I grew up in. Um, but one of the interesting things, my grandma who, um, was always making little things, you know, we would go to this, we would go to the, the shoreline and go look for shells for ours, and then we would come home and wash them all. And then we would, she would, we had to cut them a certain way, and she would make dolls out of the seashells. And then she would also make paintings or pictures, should I say frames. She'd find a little postcard that she really liked, and then she would make a really big shell of frame around it. And she was great. She would put 'em all out in, in great detail, and she would organize everything first, and then bit by bit. She would glue each one back in. And she was great. She was industrious. She had a window in a, a shop in town, and then she would put them all on the window. And it was around the time when Ryan's daughter was being met, that was the kind of, it was made just outside of Tingle. And she sold them all, and she kept selling them all. And she was like, this was great. This was like extra money for her. But it was also like, somehow I was involved in the process later on in life. And initially when she started making an eye, wasn't on the planet, but, um, yeah, I would go with her because I was the youngest and, and keep an eye on things. Um, and we would just spend the day looking for shells. And I think that's part of why I also paint what I paint. It's, it's your, your memories, the things that, um, you know, you spent have great memories with, and kind of almost recreating them, recirculating them into something new. But I, nobody I grew up with really did art. Um, I had two friends who, who, who became artists too. And, um, we kind of all bought a book each so that we could circulate them around with each other. Um, but somehow my sister, too was, um, she won a competition in her art class, and she won a box of paints of oil paints. So she, she ended up giving that to me at like 15 or 16. And then my oldest brother Thomas would, he would draw all of these, um, Disney characters on our walls. So, I mean, I had those influences. And as a child, those influences are very powerful, um, especially when they're, they're close to you. I'm intrigued by what you're describing as, um, this willingness to explore something that you don't rationally understand. Mm-hmm. this, this sense of going with your intuition and spending time being in a space that hasn't been carefully constructed for you mm-hmm. and the, um, self-awareness that you must have and the trust right In, I guess the trust in the process, they will say, You totally have to have trust, and it's a thing you just develop over time. Um, you know, you have to have faith in what you do. And I think once you do, once you know it's all going to be okay at the end. You know, it's interesting because art is one of these elusive things. People connect to different types of things and, and art, there's every type of art out there. You know, as, as creators, we make all sorts of things and people are connected or are connected to all sorts of creations. For me, the way I paint, uh, I think it very much kind of describes my personality. I, I can really hone in on something, um, and then I have to pull back out again and see what am I doing here? But it's a lot of kind of back and forth. It's almost like focusing a camera and then taking it out of focus so you can see it a little better. Um, but I'm at a point now where I do trust myself and, and, and even when I'm having a day where I can't paint a straight line, um, it's okay. I'm not, I'm not really bothered by that because I know tomorrow I come down here and, um, something else might happen, will happen. And I love that. I love, I love trying to be carefree with what you're doing, even though it's like you devote your whole life to it, but you cannot take it too serious. You gotta show up every day, but you cannot be too serious about it. Because I think if you are, you kind of rule a a quite a number of, um, creative aspects out. Cuz sometimes when you're making something, you might completely take a pivot. And if you allow yourself to do that, you, you might just discover something new that you can add to your repertoire, which is highly exciting because it may not happen that often. Something that truly connects to you that, uh, all of a sudden you're introducing to your work and it just, it just works in, in the way you paint or create. So when you say that this in some ways reflects your personality mm-hmm. , what, what does that mean? Mm-hmm. , that's a good, that's a good question because our, our personalities are over slightly changing, especially over time, over years. But I, I do think there's like a core to your personality and that, I would say maybe doesn't change that much. And I feel like when I look at my paintings, I, I kind of see my personality in there. It's a, it's a very particularness to things. Um, you know, if you, if you ever come to my studio, it's, it's, I almost think of it as a laboratory. Everything is organized there because I don't wanna spend time looking for things. I just want to paint. Um, so everything is where I need it, and I can just, uh, go right over to my easel and start painting. And one of the fun, fun things is actually when I do run out of something and I haven't, um, you know, bought a replacement, that's actually when something new can happen for me because I have to pick up either a different paintbrush or a different color now that I haven't used for ages, and all of a sudden that can spark something completely new. And that is part of my personality. I can, I can repeat and do a similar thing for quite a while, and then it's almost like a trajectory in space I hate against something. And that shifts me in a whole new direction. And it can be the smallest thing, or it can be the biggest thing. Um, there's so many variations on it, but for me, a a big painting to get involved in a big painting is, is a wonderful place to get involved in because I, I could be gone for a month now, but, but not, you know, because you get to a place where you're like, once you go down into your studio, and I like rituals, I like to do similar thing every morning so that I can get into a head space. Um, you can just do that. You can click on and you can click off again. Over time, you, you can get to that place where you can just, okay, I'm painting now, and off you go. And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes, like you just, okay, it's not working today. Go take a walk or go out into the garden and plant something. Yeah. But it's, it's different every time. And it, it's interesting sometimes I think, um, I dunno if you ever saw the movie contact, uh, with Jodi Foster and she's in a, I think she's in a sh uh, Shutler something where, um, it's, it's about to take off, but it doesn't, and and she, the experience she had was different from what everyone else was seeing. She went off somewhere and she had this amazing experience, but when she came back, came out of the shuttle, everyone was like, no, it failed. It never went anywhere. And sometimes painting is like that. You're sitting there, anybody who comes down and just sees you, you're just sitting there. But you, you could be off anywhere as you're painting and that's kind of really fun. Do you think that we give ourselves the space to engage in that sort of activity on a regular basis? Um, that's a good question. Um, I think, I think not. And I think things have really sped up now. Um, I say that because whenever I go to one of the islands and I spend an a night there, it's like, my goodness, the change in tempo in your mind, you know, you just can completely relax and you're out underneath the stars in the evening. There's no cars, there's not money sounds, and it's really quite nice. You can really slow down. And that makes me then realize, gosh, actually we are all sped up. It's really hard to slow down sometimes cuz there's always like a bucket list of things to do. And painting for me is one of those spaces where I can close the door on that for a little bit and go into a place. I know during the pandemic we were seeing a lot of people who were re-engaging with nature and going to the national parks in the United States. And probably this was a global phenomenon, I would say. And now people are starting to go back to work, and work is starting to be back on site and people are starting to kind of, I I guess, get reconnected to everything electronic and maybe fewer things that are in nature. How, how should we, how, I don't even know if should's a great word, but how do you continue to stay connected? Is it the rituals you're describing? It's the rituals to a degree. Like keeping 'em daily kind of keeps you in that place daily? Um, it's, it's one of the things I have always done is gardening. And that really helps to center me. Um, like if I'm having not a great painting day, um, I can just pop out into the garden and do a couple of hours of something and then I can come back in and try it out again. But like, it's very, it, it's, it's so, um, I don't want to, it's so therapeutic to go out and have your hands in the soil and plant things and watch things grow. Um, and while you're out there you're just, you know, looking around, you might see the light hitting a tree in a certain way and you know, that just spurs inspiration and you're like, okay, I need to go in and paint. And like, there's just this feeling when you see certain things that you like, okay, I need to go back in now and, and work on a few things. Not necessarily that tree or that light, but you, you just have been inspired again by something, you know, that thing that's around you at all times, wherever you go. Uh, I'm al I'm always intrigued by, um, putting something in the right type of soil with the right type of light, with the right environment and seeing what happens mm-hmm. . And, and I love the fact that really when you are working with plants, just say, but really any living thing, you're not necessarily doing anything other than Right. Creating the possibility mm-hmm. that it's going to thrive or not. Right. And for me, I love going back, I have a little planting bench downstairs and I'll go downstairs and I'll say, oh, those, those little spider plants that I took and put them in the soil, are they gonna, are they gonna thrive? Are they not gonna thrive? Yeah. No, and it's interesting sometimes my biggest success with planting is when I leave them alone. You know, sometimes I overwork things and then these are lessons you can carry through with your painting when you are working in something. And there's been many instances where I'm working on something and I'm like, okay, I think this is done, but I'll push it a little further. And sometimes pushing it a little further is great. Like, you discover something new and you maybe make the painting even into a better thing and sometimes you just destroy it cuz you have overworked it. Um, but those are lessons and, and it's okay, you just start another painting. Yes. I found the same thing in working with people because that's mostly what my other job is, is working with people is that there's the inclination to, to wanna have such control over that you wanna keep going back to that person and saying, but wait, can we explore this a little further? Right. And sometimes what you need to do is just leave it alone. Yeah. So that they can process things on their own Right. And come to whatever new space they need to come to. Mm-hmm. sometimes you really can't control Right. What goes on. Yeah, no, totally true. Sometimes it just is what it is and maybe either you can't or you're not the person. Um, but I definitely agree with that sense of space, giving a space and, and just allowing it to, allowing it to unravel or on on, what's the word? Yeah. Open up and just be, be whatever it's going to be. Um, and I feel, I find that in painting a lot because I draw out my paintings in quite detail and yet that's by the time I'm finished with that, it's actually just the start. And now once I start adding color, I'm really trying to create this tension between the color that I add and the, and the lines that are already there. And some of the lines will disappear and, and some of the color will take over in parts and, and then, but there's such a strong sense of line that I, I'm never worried about that part disappearing. But I'm always trying to get it to a place where the line becomes the color, the color is the line, there's no differentiation between them. And that's what creates the, the strength of the work that you kind of can get lost in between. For me, like with with the Coastal Water Series, the rocks are a way into the painting. Like, like total abstraction sometimes can be intimidating for people cuz you're, sometimes I think a lot of us are trying to find that one thing we can connect to and see and go from there. Um, and so with the rocks, for me, that's what that is. Uh, it's an opening into someplace. Um, and once you get past the rocks and go into the painting, it's almost like you're, you can just wander off into all of these little places like I did as a child, going to all the pools and picking up sea shells. And, and that's a beautiful space because it's very open and it's, there's not judgment there and, and you're just discovering things and looking at things. And I think, uh, as a painter, one of the challenges for me is to, to create a painting that from a distance looks interesting and then you go up close to it. And it's still interesting, hopefully, um, that it still keeps its tension from, from up close because that's quite challenging to do. I, I have had, uh, experiences in museums going to the paintings and seeing them in books and being so excited to see them and then seeing them in person and going, okay, interesting. But it, it didn't quite have, when I went up close to it, the same, uh, tension that I wanted. Um, and there was o one instance where I was in, I think it was the George Po in Paris and I was looking at a Nicholas, the, the style, I think you say his word, he's a French painter and it was called Orchestra or Sy Symphony. And I was looking at it, it was a very abstract piece. I was looking at it and I was like, I was tired. So I just sat down looking at it and then maybe after 10 minutes I started laughing and I could see the image, I could see the painting. Um, and I was, I was blown away that, um, I was looking at it initially and just not seeing anything and nothing was really connecting me, but I was tired. So I think my, my critique was down a little. And, and so then I was just looking at it, you know, just looking at it openly. And then I saw the painting and that was kind of really, really interesting to realize, and this is probably back in my early twenties, that, you know, sometimes you come to things with a lot of preconceived notions and they can block you from seeing what's in front of you. Um, and so that painting was really interesting to allow me to see that. And I've never forgotten that, um, impression I had that, um, it made me laugh out loud and I'm not the kind of person who generally laughs out loud. Um, but that was kind of fun. It is also really interesting to know, um, to think you're going to a museum because there's a, a piece there that you've always wanted to see. And then getting there and maybe having that not be something you're actually that interested in, but something else that you wouldn't necessarily have expected to draw you in. Yeah. And I've had many instances where I've looked at paintings and initially not seen the painting. Like I've looked at it and been confused about what I'm looking at. And then over time, um, the painting I'm looking at, I'm like, oh, that's what that painting is. How did I not see that? I mean, it is plain as day now, but, and once you see it, you can't unsee it, which is fascinating.