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EAMON O'KANE

City Panorama series, installation views, Overgaden, Copenhagen 1999

Scroll down to view a selection of works from the City Panorama Series

'…for example his earlier huge drawings of cityscapes are epic depictions. Direct traditional drawings, derived from photomontages, which are delivered heroically in the style of the artist single-handedly capturing the city with a simple piece of charcoal. These are telling works, evocative, nostalgic, yet with a knowing interplay on our collective art-historical subconscious.'
Mike Fitzpatrick, Director, Limerick City Gallery of Art

City I (Copenhagen), acrylic and mixed media on canvas, Limerick City Gallery of Art collection, Limerick, Ireland

City II (Warsaw), Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 244 x 488cm, 1998, collection of the artist

City III (Frankfurt), Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 244 x 488cm, 1998, collection of the artist

City I, Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 244 x 488cm, 1998, collection of the artist

City I (Detail), Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 244 x 488cm, 1998, collection of the artist

CITY III TEXT (from a catalogue of a show in Switzerland in 2004) The description of the process is relevant to all works in the series. City III is a large-scale painting depicting the view from St. Peter's in Rome. It was technically constructed through drawing the cityscape directly on raw canvas in charcoal and then applying consecutive layers of translucent acrylic paint. The maps that are transcribed onto the sky are of ancient roman architecture as well as mapping of Europe suggesting travel and especially 'The Grand Tour'.

City III (Rome), Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 244 x 488cm, 1998, collection of the artist

'City XII (Stockholm)', Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 244 x 488cm, 1998, collection of the artist 'O'Kane drew with charcoal on raw canvas, and then applied layers of translucent paint, to produce a "Grand Tour" of European cityscapes. Each depicts a view of a city as seen from above (in this case Stockholm).' Excerpt from 'CARTOGRAPHY: Artists + Maps, Princeton Architectural Press'

City (Paris), Acrylic and mixed media on canvas, 244 x 488cm, 1998, collection of the artist

 

© Eamon O'Kane 2008