The Butler Gallery is to present Tony O’Malley: Constructions, the first exhibition dedicated entirely to the sculptural constructions of the renowned Irish artist, Tony O’Malley (1913-2003 ). The exhibition is curated by Butler Gallery’s Director Anna O’Sullivan.
The exhibition will open on Saturday August 7 at 3pm – 5pm and will continue until Sunday, October 31.
Tony O’Malley holds an important and distinguished position in the history of twentieth century Irish art. A highly respected and beloved artist, his works are represented in all major Irish museums and included in the most significant public and private collections of Irish art. Self-taught, his artistic career only began in 1960 when he was in his forties, but his everyday, workmanlike approach to his practice resulted in a prolific career. His practice was a quiet one, modest and non-careerist. While he found recognition among his peers during his thirty years – 1960 to 1990 – among the artistic community of St Ives, Cornwall, the serious attention he deserved only came to him later in life in Ireland, the country of his birth. He settled back in Physcianstown in Callan Co. Kilkenny in 1990, with his wife Jane, where he lived and worked until his death at the age of eighty-nine.
Tony O’Malley has said, “…my home place and its landscape is still in my psyche. I call it inscape – inner revelations of the outer psyche”. O’Malley was a proud son of Kilkenny who later went on to receive the ‘Freeman of the City’ in 2000. His association is a positive one for Kilkenny, whose people appreciate the huge contribution he made to the arts in Ireland.
