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“Seeing Clearly” is a stunning exhibition of portraits, figures, landscapes and still lives by Oxford artist Francis O’Neill. The exhibition is open to visitors during weekdays from 9.00 am to 4.00 pm from Tuesday 6th December until Tuesday 20th December, reopening on the 5th January and running until 20th January 2017.
Francis’ work is extraordinary in its own right, but also displayed is his research into the work of Rembrandt.His dramatic findings, published in the Institute of Physics, Journal of Optics recently received international acclaim.
Francis will be giving a talk in January about his own work in conventional portraiture, and how it inspired him to explore the evidence for Rembrandt’s use of optics in his self-portraits. This has led Francis to investigate other universally held beliefs. “It is the responsibility of every generation to question what they have been taught. Progress is often advanced by those who are brave enough to step outside cultural norms and restrictions even though contemporaries often regard those people as heretics or outsiders. This pattern can be observed throughout history from the work of scientists like Galileo to that of the 2,500 architects and engineers who cite evidence for controlled demolition on 9/11.” Francis' engaging and energetic style will make this a fascinating event. Contact the gallery administrator for more details.
http://www.francisoneill.net/
Francis O’Neill is an award-winning artist based in Oxford, specialising in portraits, figures and landscapes in oils, pencil, charcoal and pastels. He teaches drawing from his studio in Magdalen Road Studios, Oxford, and accepts portrait commissions.
Francis graduated from Edinburgh College of Art in 2000. In 2003 he won a scholarship from the Salford Sports and Arts Trust before becoming Artist in Residence, first at Chenderit School in Banbury in 2003-4, and then at St.Mary’s School in Wantage 2004-05 where he then became Figure Drawing Tutor. The success of these residencies led to Francis writing and presenting the television pilot “What’s so great about Turner?" In 2006 Francis won the Elizabeth Greenshields Award, a worldwide prize for figurative painting.
In 2008 Francis’s successful independent one-man exhibition, The Binsey Collection, also saw the launch of his gift book The Stick Man’s Guide to Life and Art which has now sold 1000 copies. In 2009 he was elected to be a member of Magdalen Road Studios.
Francis has taught figure-drawing at Ruskin, Trinity and Magdalen Colleges at the University of Oxford, at Manchester Metropolitan University and at Wharf House in Wallingford. He has travelled the world studying and making art, visiting major national galleries throughout Europe and beyond.
The Michael Heseltine Gallery is a purpose built gallery on the site of a secondary school specialieing in visual arts. Opened by Lord Heseltine. Address:
Chenderit School, Archery Road, Middleton Cheney OX17 2QR. It is on the border of North Oxfordshire and South Northamptonshire.
