TONY & JANE O'MALLEY EXHIBITION

8 Holland Street present a retrospective selection of works from artists Tony and Jane O’Malley. Following a major exhibition of Tony’s work at The Irish Museum of Modern Art and Tate St Ives in 2006, this is the first time in several years that a significant display of their work will be shown together in the UK. Works include a series of exquisitely coloured abstract gouaches, a pen and ink drawing of the Cornish-based potter Bernard Leach by Tony and two significant oils by both artists. These will be shown alongside ceramics by Leach and the work of other painters connected with the artistic town of St Ives.

Tony O’Malley was born in County Kilkenny, Ireland in 1913 and he came to painting after working for several years as a bank clerk and having suffered a bout of tuberculosis. He moved to St. Ives, Cornwall in 1960 to pursue his artistic career and spent 30 years living and working there, where he met and worked alongside Peter Lanyon, Patrick Heron, Roger Hilton and Bryan Wynter. Tony’s highly distinctive work was inspired by nature but he worked intuitively, painting on everything from scraps of recycled paper and canvas to fragments of wood and slate, his works are suffused with an elemental energy.

Jane O’Malley was born in Montreal, Canada in 1944 and joined the artists’ community in St. Ives after moving there in 1969; she married Tony shortly after. Jane’s work is characterised by a rich, saturated colouration inspired by the places she and Tony worked - Lanzarote, the Bahamas, St. Lucia - and also by her interest in juxtaposing everyday objects against the landscape.