Details

First Name	Roanne
Last Name	O'Donnell
Username	roanneodonnell
Website	http://www.roanneodonnell.es
Region	Fife
Disciplines	Drawing, Installation, Painting, Printmaking
Themes	Abstract, Geometric, Identity

Statement

The subject of my work is the process of making it. With limitation, restriction and repetition, an exact set of materials and a constrained mark-making action, I have deliberately controlled its painfully slow development and direction. It is a twenty-three-year investigation.
The mark is a horizontal line.
The substrate is paper.
Carriers and binders are limited to oil and cold wax.
Pigments are restricted to charcoal and graphite.
The physical process is the repetitive action of mark-making, bending over paper laid flat, and moving my paint mixtures to create a line, over and over, again and again until the surface is covered and my endurance for the position I adopt is at its limit.
The concept is a question of gemination: ”No man ever steps in the same river twice, for it’s not the same river and he’s not the same man.” Paraphrase: Heraclitus of Ephesus.
The contention and motivation is that duplication is impossible.

Biography

Born in St. Andrews, O’Donnell is an award-winning Scottish painter currently working on the series of paintings, ‘Surface Work’. After 18 years of professional practice in Northern Norway, she now has studios in Scotland and Spain.

“O’Donnell makes work with a subtle minimalistic approach, the subject being the actual process of making it, inextricably linked to the concepts and actions of limitation, restriction and repetition. Systematic and meticulously planned works resonate with surfaces created by means of rules and omissions, acceptance and refusal. Her works are notable for their perfect finish and tactile nature. This is of great importance and bears witness to her concern for craftsmanship.”
Dario Rutigliano and Melissa C Hilborn | Curators | Art HAbens Biennial Edition XVI.

With a Masters in Contemporary European Fine Art, she is an accomplished lecturer, recently being invited to talk at The Department of Arts and Humanities, New York University, Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). As a curator and parallel with her own art practice, she spent five years as Director of Galleri NordNorge, the Gallery of Northern Norway, collaborating with museums and galleries such as the National Museum of Art in Oslo, showing work by Paul McCarthy, Norway 10 Designers and established international artists, while providing a platform to emerging. She has many years of experience on the boards of industrial, commercial and creative organizations such as NNBK (North Norwegian Artists’ Union), Innovasjon Norge’s Creative Development Project, and as President of Fundación Sierra de Libar in Spain. Sitting on collection committees of Sparebank1 NN Art Foundation and art consultant for KORO, Norway’s department of art for acquisitions in architecture, she has had the honour to commission artwork and contribute to advancing the careers of Norwegian artists.

Works are in major collections including The Scottish Office, North Norwegian Museum of Art, and The Norwegian Arts Council Collection. In-depth articles and interviews are featured in contemporary magazines including ART Habens Review and Art Reveal Contemporary Art.

Roanne O'Donnell