Working with paper and making collages has always been part of James O’Connor’s visual world. In 2014 he started making very small collages from printed coloured paper and cardboard that found its way into his studio. All of it had very distinctive industrial colours that he found interesting for collage-making and the collages soon became part of his painting day. When work stopped on a painting O’Connor would continue with a collage, hence the title Working Collage is repeated throughout the exhibition. He had the thought of smallness, simplicity and directness. The work process has a lot to do with the eye and the hand working in rhythm with the scissors, cutting a shape that moves beyond the accidental to assume a more intentional form.

James O’Connor was born in Dublin in 1945 and studied at the National College of Art & Design from 1973 to 1976. Following his studies he moved to Munich, Germany in 1977, where he still lives and works. O’Connor has worked as a painting tutor at NCAD and the Volkshochschule München, Germany and has exhibited his work in various group exhibitions in Ireland and internationally. Group shows include EVA, Limerick; Lavit Gallery, Cork; B4A Gallery, New York; and Galerie Médiart, Paris. He has also had solo exhibitions at Marquardt Ausstellungen, Munich; Galerie Epikur, Wuppertal; Galerie A.O. Müller, Cologne; and Lad Lane Gallery, Dublin. His work is included in the public collections of Bank of Ireland, Boyle Civic Collection, MGM Media Group and Stadtsparkasse, Munich, amongst others.