DENIS O'CONNOR
b. 1947, New ZealandAlthough an accomplished ceramicist, O’Connor is primarily known for his emblematic forms carved in limestone, and for smaller relief images engraved and burnished into panels of grey Welsh roof slate, occasionally coloured. Legendary for his fastidious craftsmanship, O’Connor’s work abounds in references to New Zealand and Irish history for he is a gifted writer and storyteller who delights in creating unexpected juxtapositions, linking past with present. Many of his slate images are like pages in a solid, non-paper book of fables, blending his own personal family narratives into broader, even global, social histories.
More recently he has been making sculpture with frosted crystal or metal-plated found objects, and large coloured photographs that illustrate theatrical tableau. In 2008 O’Connor participated in Ábhar agus Meon/Materials and Mentalities, an international contemporary art exhibition part of the Sixth World Archaeological Congress at University College, Dublin.
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