More in things than in people

 

Because death inhabits people

is the exterior of things,

I can see life only in things

 

Their dogged and contrary existence

their undiminished staring in the face

of the years allotted to me

 

Therefore I see more in things than in people

the one person inside me growing

towards them, approaching silence.

 

J Bernlef

(translated to English from original Dutch)

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Solo exhibition, Spring 2023

Memory and childhood are recurring themes in O'Sullivan's work. When her mother recently moved into a retirement facility, she was tasked with returning to her home country to empty the family home prior to selling. This was a hugely impactful time. A lifetime of posessions, books, souvenirs, clothes worn on special occasions, photo albums the precious bric-a-brac, all consigned to skips and refuse sacks. These are the paintings she created all based on that experience, part catharsis, part documentary.

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About the artist 

Helen O'Sullivan-Tyrrell (°London, 1968) is an Irish artist living in Belgium. An architect by training, she moved to Brussels, to work in the NGO sector in Brussels in the field of youth advocacy. She studied painting and life drawing at the BKO (Beeldende Kunst Overijse) art academy. 

 

She was selected for the final of the BP Portrait Award 2015. She was among the finalists of the Belfius Art Prize 2014 and the Hennessy Portrait Prize 2014 and again in 2015.  (see video from 1:35)
 

Her work has been selected for the Royal Ulster Academy and the Royal Hibernian Academy annual exhibitions. Two of her paintings have been acquired by the Office of Public Works for the Irish State Art Collection. Her work is exhibited in Ireland at Solomon Fine Art in Dublin
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