Paintings · Pen & ink

Fine Art

A crab-legged sea god, a heron with a grudge, and a lazy Celtic boar called Pork Chop.

Michael O’Kelly has painted since he was a teenager, and was trained in old-master technique by Tom Keating. These paintings draw on everything since: Mexico, the Renaissance, the myths of the sea. Each comes with a note in his own words. Click any picture to zoom in until you can see the brushwork.

Paintings: Sixteen, shown here
Medium: Dye sublimation on aluminium; oil on canvas
Drawings: Pen and ink with gold leaf
Exhibited: 40+ museums and galleries in 10 countries, including the US, UK, and Europe

Paintings

Stories in paint, baked into metal

Most are dye sublimations on aluminium: heat turns the inks to gas and fuses them into the metal, “baked onto the substrate like high-fired glazes on ceramic.” How it works →

Poseidon Fiddles with Time, by Michael O'Kelly. — **Poseidon Fiddles with Time**Dye sublimation on aluminiumPoseidon is now an aged hippie, a minor god who is unhappy, as half his body is a crab/lobster. As a result his love life has been curtailed, somewhat. So he’s now taking out his frustrations on humankind… big time!!!Ask about this work →

The Contract, by Michael O'Kelly. — **The Contract**Dye sublimation on aluminiumA masked priest and a corrupt envoy from the court of Spain present a false contract to a Mexican lord.Ask about this work →

Dusk (The Angry Heron), by Michael O'Kelly. — **Dusk (The Angry Heron)**Dye sublimation on aluminiumThe great blue heron owns the lake and is not happy the beautiful nouveau damsel has arrived. All watched by chill turtle.Ask about this work →

Discovering Posada, by Michael O'Kelly. — **Discovering Posada**Dye sublimation on aluminiumEuropean muscle and Renaissance intellect conquer the pre-Columbian culture, represented here by the *muertos*: satirical characters created by the 19th-century political lithographer José Guadalupe Posada Aguilar.Ask about this work →

Pork Chop Seeks Saint Luke – Assisi, by Michael O'Kelly. — **Pork Chop Seeks Saint Luke – Assisi**Dye sublimation on aluminiumPork Chop continues his quest for salvation. A quarter of the New Testament text is attributed to St. Luke – a physician, patron saint of artists, first icon painter.Ask about this work →

The Mask Maker, by Michael O'Kelly. — **The Mask Maker**Dye sublimation on aluminiumThe town of Erongarícuaro, at Lake Pátzcuaro, state of Michoacán, Mexico. I met this old man who was still carving masks and spent the day with him.Ask about this work →

Pass the Wine (A Study of Hands), by Michael O'Kelly. — **Pass the Wine (A Study of Hands)**Dye sublimation on aluminiumHands are rewarding to draw when close to life.Ask about this work →

Things Could Be Worse, by Michael O'Kelly. — **Things Could Be Worse**Dye sublimation on aluminiumWhen one is surrounded by giant tsunamis, deadly lightning and a killer monster fish, who has just sunk another ship… it’s good to stay positive.Ask about this work →

Dante’s Church, by Michael O'Kelly. — **Dante’s Church**Dye sublimation on aluminiumWriter, philosopher, poet: Dante Alighieri (1265–1321) met and married his wife, Beatrice, at Santa Margherita de’ Cerchi, Florence.Ask about this work →

Homage to Rufino Tamayo, by Michael O'Kelly. — **Homage to Rufino Tamayo**Dye sublimation on aluminiumWorking with Maestro Rufino Tamayo, in Mexico City for three years, was inspiring. Tamayo, 1899–1991. A Zapotec, from Oaxaca. A great man.Ask about this work →

Renaissance Woman (Pork Chop Gets the Boot), by Michael O'Kelly. — **Renaissance Woman (Pork Chop Gets the Boot)**Dye sublimation on aluminiumSet in the Renaissance: “Pork Chop”, a lazy teen Celtic boar, is made to leave town to learn life and become a better *mucc* (Irish for boar).Ask about this work →

Saint Brendan and the Aspidochelone, by Michael O'Kelly. — **Saint Brendan and the Aspidochelone**Dye sublimation on aluminiumThe aspidochelone, a monster sea creature (whales), thought by early sailors to be floating islands. They would try to land on them and chaos would break out. It is written that St. Brendan crossed the Atlantic in a leather boat, to Greenland.Ask about this work →

Room 1: Vacations in Cuenca, by Michael O'Kelly. — **Room 1: Vacations in Cuenca**Dye sublimation on aluminiumThe beautiful frescoes of Bonampak, Chiapas, Mexico (A.D. 580–800) were lost through bad archaeology. Here are some of the Maya musicians (A.D. 600–800) on vacation in 15th-century Spain.Ask about this work →

Giotto Eludes a Boar, by Michael O'Kelly. — **Giotto Eludes a Boar**Dye sublimation on aluminiumLate Middle Ages: Giotto di Bondone, architect and artist, creates a fresco in the upper basilica of St. Francis of Assisi.Ask about this work →

Lord of the Toucans, by Michael O'Kelly. — **Lord of the Toucans**Dye sublimation on aluminiumMaya priests bring offerings to the lord, approx. A.D. 700.Ask about this work →

Lord of the Toucans (oil), by Michael O'Kelly. — **Lord of the Toucans (oil)**Oil on canvas, 3 × 4 ft, 2021The same procession, painted in oil.Ask about this work →

Detail from Dusk (The Angry Heron): two great blue herons beside a yellow iris, painted in close detail. — Detail, *Dusk (The Angry Heron)*

Commissions

Have a story that should be a painting?

Michael paints new work to commission: a portrait, a family story, a legend, a place that matters to you.

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Pen & ink with gold leaf

Two thousand drawings of the ancient world

From 1973, as a researcher in Mexico City, Michael made more than 2,000 pen-and-ink drawings of pre-Columbian and other ancient artefacts. These were commissioned for two books published in London: The First Emperor of China (Macmillan) and The Encyclopedia of Ancient Civilizations (Rainbird Press), both edited by Arthur Cotterell.

Every tone is built from lines and dots, with nothing to hide behind. It is the same line that, thirty years later, would be screened onto raw clay for his murals.

Pen-and-ink portrait head of Pompey the Great on a field of gold leaf. — **Pompey the Great,** pen and ink with gold leaf.

Pen-and-ink drawing: Glass Masks. — **Glass Masks**Phoenician, from Carthage (modern Tunisia), 4th century B.C.

Pen-and-ink drawing: Indus Unicorn Seal. — **Indus Unicorn Seal**Mohenjo-daro and Harappa, 2400–1800 B.C.

Pen-and-ink drawing: God K. — **God K**Maya, Late Classic period, A.D. 600–800

Pen-and-ink drawing: Pompey the Great. — **Pompey the Great**Roman general Gnaeus Pompeius Magnus, 106–48 B.C.

Pen-and-ink drawing: Colossal Olmec Head. — **Colossal Olmec Head**Basalt, from 900 B.C., Tabasco and Veracruz, Mexico

Pen-and-ink drawing: Olmec Figure. — **Olmec Figure**Basalt, from 900 B.C., Tabasco and Veracruz, Mexico

Pen-and-ink drawing: Atlantean Figure. — **Atlantean Figure**Toltec stone, Tula, Mexico, 15 ft tall, A.D. 850–900

Pen-and-ink drawing: Stucco Portrait Head. — **Stucco Portrait Head**Maya, Palenque, Chiapas, Mexico, A.D. 700–800

Pen-and-ink drawing: Warrior. — **Warrior**Bas-relief, Cerro Sechín, Casma Valley, Peru

Pen-and-ink drawing: Terracotta Soldier. — **Terracotta Soldier**Portrait head, First Emperor of China, 210–209 B.C.

Pen-and-ink drawing: Terracotta Soldier (Hairstyle). — **Terracotta Soldier (Hairstyle)**First Emperor of China, 210–209 B.C.

Collect or commission

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