Liam O’Neill

Liam O’Neill was born in 1954 in the Dingle Peninsula, County Kerry, Ireland. Liam is a self-taught painter. Inspiration for his work stems from his native place, its people and the daily happenings and events therein.
He returned to his native West Kerry in 2002 to pursue his passion of painting his native place, having left at age 17 to follow a teaching career in Dublin. During his time in Dublin he developed his own personal style painting street scenes and Smithfield horse market with its many characters.
During this time he painted his West Kerry scenes from memory and from recollections of his many visits back home. His paintings reflect many aspects of life in West Kerry, especially the ones that are fast-fading from living memory, the old ways of farming from herding sheep and cows, to saving hay and cutting turf. Horse fairs dominate his paintings, from memories of his days as a youth visiting Dingle fair with his father.
Painting for over 30 years, he has developed his own unique style that stems from his use of strong colours applied in swathes to the canvas with his palette knife.