About Bart

Baltimore County
Biography
 
I was born in Dublin, Ireland and have lived in Maryland since 2003. I make interdisciplinary work that includes painting, drawing, poetry and video. I teach at The Maryland Institute College of Art and Harford Community College. I have shown work extensively in Baltimore, Washington DC. Philadelphia and New York as well as Ireland and Northern Ireland. I received my BFA from the National College of Art and Design in Dublin in 2000 and my MFA from MICA… more

Repression/Ressurgence/Reemergence

When I was asked to make work that considered Irish cultural identity by curator and artist Jackie Hoysted I began to consider the color green. It has been an important color on my palette as a painter for the past 20 years. It literally surrounded the landscape that I grew up in, in the Dublin Wicklow Mountains. 
 
The work for this show is the result of several intensive months of painting last winter. The paintings set out to consider the color green in all its complexity.  The making process revealed something about the Irish Landscape that has been an inescapable element in my work since I began painting in the 1990’s.
 
The work also made me think of global capitalist practices that endanger our planet. There is a strong body of climate change deniers here in the United States whose actions may bring about an end to beauty I grew up surrounded by. Some painting titles are a deliberate provocation towards a blind and inflexible politics that will not budge its position. These Colors Run, That’s what Makes Them Strong for example.
 
  • 01. Represion Resurgence Reemergence (Installation Shot).jpg
    01. Represion Resurgence Reemergence (Installation Shot).jpg
    This is an Installation shot from Repression, Resurgence, Reemergence at Hilyer Art Space in Washington DC. Running from June 3rd to June 25th, the exhibit was curated by artist Jackie Hoystead, who worked with Solas Nua to invite a number of visual artists to create works that investigate Irish cultural identity. As a part of the Centenary commemorations, artists were invited to ponder what it means to be Irish and what is meant by the term “Irishness.” Is it a line of heritage, or a Celtic cultural bond? Is it a shared heritage of stories, or a shared way of life? Perhaps it is a certain look or a collection of sounds, a common sense of thinking? Today the cultural landscape in Ireland is rich and diverse and quite different than what it may have been in 1916. Who are the Irish today, how has the past shaped them and how are they shaping the Irish of the future? The artists featured in the exhibit, were: Ursula Burke, Conall Cary, Erin Devine, Jennie Guy, Dragana Jurisic, Vanessa Donoso Lopez, Colette Murphy, Eva O’Leary, Helen O’Leary, Bart O’Reilly, Maryanne Pollock, and The Project Twins (Michael & James Fitzgerald).
  • 02. My Lost Summer Bird.jpg
    02. My Lost Summer Bird.jpg
    Acrylic on Raw Canvas. 24"x24"
  • 03. Tonight the Dawn came at Twilight.jpg
    03. Tonight the Dawn came at Twilight.jpg
    Acrylic on Raw Canvas. 30"x24"
  • 04. Tiberadden.jpg
    04. Tiberadden.jpg
    Acrylic on Raw Canvas. 30"x24"
  • 05. Tigh an Chnoic.jpg
    05. Tigh an Chnoic.jpg
    Acrylic on Raw Canvas. 30"x24"
  • 06. Veils Just Now.jpg
    06. Veils Just Now.jpg
    Acrylic on Raw Canvas. 30"x24"
  • 07. Through Tears I see the most Important Mountain in my Memory.jpg
    07. Through Tears I see the most Important Mountain in my Memory.jpg
    Acrylic on Raw Canvas. 30"x24"
  • 08. Drops on my Window, I've been walking this Crooked Path too Long.jpg
    08. Drops on my Window, I've been walking this Crooked Path too Long.jpg
    Acrylic on Raw Canvas. 30"x24"
  • 09. We Stopped by the Pool but it was just made of Drips.jpg
    09. We Stopped by the Pool but it was just made of Drips.jpg
    Acrylic on Raw Canvas. 30"x30"
  • 10. These Colors Run, that's what makes them Strong.jpg
    10. These Colors Run, that's what makes them Strong.jpg
    Acrylic on Raw Canvas. 30"x21"

The Army That You Have

The Army That You Have”
“Q: Why do we soldiers have to dig through local landfills for pieces of scrap metal and compromised ballistic glass to up-armor our vehicles? And why don’t we have those resources readily available to us?”
“A: It isn’t a matter of money. It isn’t a matter on the part of the army of desire. It’s a matter of production and capability of doing it. As you know, ah, you go to war with the army you have – not the army you might want or wish to have at a later time. You can have all the armor in the world on a tank and it can (still) be blown up …”
– Donald Rumsfeld, December 2004
These realistic fantasies presented in “The Army That You Have” assert that we can, as a society at large, rethink and critique disciplinary boundaries of making, process, and product, and posit the hope for a more careful world. They use the most available and ubiquitous material at hand and underfoot: dirt. Collaborations with dirt through force, suggested force, and passivism – ridiculous, pluralistic, topical, explosive, meditative, and absurd – occupy suggested futures and self aware presents. Always maintaining an awareness of futility, this work presents making as an act of creative and personal survival. These artists use dirt as a literal and metaphorical pathway to utopian reconstruction of our received social values and our projected existence, using the material underneath our literal and metaphorical feet as a mechanism to suggest and occupy a greater future and a more responsible now.
Curated by Marian April Glebes
“The Army That You Have”
September 17 – October 22 2016
Opening Reception: Saturday September 17, 2016, 7-10pm
Closing Reception and Performances October 22nd, 2016, 7-10pm
——–


  • 01.The Army That You Have (Installation Shot).jpg
    01.The Army That You Have (Installation Shot).jpg
  • 02. Anything Could Happen Here.jpg
    02. Anything Could Happen Here.jpg
  • 03. Seven Jets Chased the Sun as she Melted into the West.jpg
    03. Seven Jets Chased the Sun as she Melted into the West.jpg
  • 04. Found and not Forgotten.jpg
    04. Found and not Forgotten.jpg
  • 05. I'm Snow Painting with the Birds.jpg
    05. I'm Snow Painting with the Birds.jpg
  • 06. Orange lives with Green.jpg
    06. Orange lives with Green.jpg
  • 07. This one saw a Freeze and Thaw.jpg
    07. This one saw a Freeze and Thaw.jpg
  • 08. Might I Try to Orchestrate.jpg
    08. Might I Try to Orchestrate.jpg
  • 09. Green's not only what I've Seen.jpg
    09. Green's not only what I've Seen.jpg
  • 10. Fractals!.jpg
    10. Fractals!.jpg

My Mothers Decorations

  • My Mothers Decorations.pdf

Project Line 180 Interview with Renee Van Der Stelt

Conversation between Renee Van Der Stelt and Bart O'Reilly.
©Zoige Production 2016
  • Project Line180 Part 4
    Conversation between Renee Van Der Stelt and Bart O'Reilly. ©Zoige Production 2016
  • 45. Studio Shot.jpg
    45. Studio Shot.jpg

Poems from the Mountains

  • 01.Autumn Mountain Fires.jpg
    01.Autumn Mountain Fires.jpg
  • 02.That Old Piece of Paper .jpg
    02.That Old Piece of Paper .jpg
  • 03.More about Mountains.jpg
    03.More about Mountains.jpg
  • 04.Bull Under Milk Wood.jpg
    04.Bull Under Milk Wood.jpg
  • 05.Upon Arrival .jpg
    05.Upon Arrival .jpg
  • 06.My Grandfathers House.jpg
    06.My Grandfathers House.jpg
  • 07.My Mothers Decorations.jpg
    07.My Mothers Decorations.jpg
  • 08.Unaware of the Stones .jpg
    08.Unaware of the Stones .jpg
  • 09. Sown in the Seasons.jpg
    09. Sown in the Seasons.jpg
  • 10.My Fathers Work Shed .jpg
    10.My Fathers Work Shed .jpg

A Late November Walk

  • 01. A Late November Walk.jpg
    01. A Late November Walk.jpg
  • 02. To Walk towards the Setting Sun as the World Winds Down..jpg
    02. To Walk towards the Setting Sun as the World Winds Down..jpg
    To Walk Towards the Setting Sun as the World Winds Down
  • 03. Green Water.jpg
    03. Green Water.jpg
  • 04. Pleasure in a Moment.jpg
    04. Pleasure in a Moment.jpg
  • 05.Tears through Tears.jpg
    05.Tears through Tears.jpg
  • 06. Along Unfinished Footpaths.jpg
    06. Along Unfinished Footpaths.jpg

Imaginary Shed Videos

As an artist I explore the gap between what we perceive and what we claim to know. Yet, a claim to truly know or understand seems at best arrogant and at worst extremely dangerous.
 
An Imagined History of an Old Shed was made in the winter of 2013. The idea began with an interest in the site of an old shed near my house in White Marsh, Maryland. At the time I was reading Samuel Beckett’s trilogy of Novels, Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable. In the second novel, Malone Dies, Beckett does not disclose the location of the story. Although, Malone describes his surroundings frequently he remains unsure of his exact whereabouts. I was very taken by the descriptions and began to imagine the novel was taking place inside this shed near my house. This openness in Beckett’s work inspired me to write my own poem. My thoughts of Malone began to interchange with similar situations and events in my own life, as at the time my mother was very ill back in Ireland. An Imagined History of an Old Shed is the first part of a trilogy. For this exhibition the text of the poem is included in the form of subtitles in Spanish and English.
 
Parts II and III in this series, The History and Objects of an Imaginary Shed and Inside with the Objects of an Imaginary Shed, respectively, also play with the idea of place and how it informs my creative process.
 
This series also deals with the natural process of mourning, which takes place after the death of a loved one. While it seems natural to seek meaning behind such life events, the desire to do so can limit or frustrate us. Our environment changes over time as we grow, age and get old, as do our faculties of perception. Our desire for consistency and clarity is thwarted by constant change. We live with an inability to reconcile the fact that we do not fully understand the true nature of the world around us.
 
  • An Imagined History of an Old Shed Part I
    An Imagined History of an Old Shed was made in the winter of 2013. The idea began with an interest in the site of an old shed near my house in White Marsh, Maryland. At the time I was reading Samuel Beckett’s trilogy of Novels, Molloy, Malone Dies and The Unnamable. In the second novel, Malone Dies, Beckett does not disclose the location of the story. Although, Malone describes his surroundings frequently he remains unsure of his exact whereabouts. I was very taken by the descriptions and began to imagine the novel was taking place inside this shed near my house. This openness in Beckett’s work inspired me to write my own poem. My thoughts of Malone began to interchange with similar situations and events in my own life, as at the time my mother was very ill back in Ireland. An Imagined History of an Old Shed is the first part of a trilogy. For this exhibition the text of the poem is included in the form of subtitles in Spanish and English.
  • The History and Objects of an Imaginary Shed
    Parts II and III in this series, The History and Objects of an Imaginary Shed and Inside with the Objects of an Imaginary Shed, respectively, also play with the idea of place and how it informs my creative process. This series also deals with the natural process of mourning, which takes place after the death of a loved one. While it seems natural to seek meaning behind such life events, the desire to do so can limit or frustrate us. Our environment changes over time as we grow, age and get old, as do our faculties of perception. Our desire for consistency and clarity is thwarted by constant change. We live with an inability to reconcile the fact that we do not fully understand the true nature of the world around us.
  • Inside with the Objects of an Imaginary Shed. Part III
    Parts II and III in this series, The History and Objects of an Imaginary Shed and Inside with the Objects of an Imaginary Shed, respectively, also play with the idea of place and how it informs my creative process. This series also deals with the natural process of mourning, which takes place after the death of a loved one. While it seems natural to seek meaning behind such life events, the desire to do so can limit or frustrate us. Our environment changes over time as we grow, age and get old, as do our faculties of perception. Our desire for consistency and clarity is thwarted by constant change. We live with an inability to reconcile the fact that we do not fully understand the true nature of the world around us.