Breon O’Casey: The World Beyond
Pangolin, London

THE BEST measure of Breon O’Casey’s work is the way in which it draws the viewer in by offering an evident sense of companionship, an intuitive partnership of equals with shared values. Familiar though the perceptions may be, the formal and non-confrontational simplicity is deceptive in this retrospective of painting, sculpture and jewellery, some not seen for decades.

Reclining nudes have been a painters’ staple fare for over 20,000 years, since the Australia’s aborigines masterfully adorned the Burrungkuy rocks. But flesh tones and the sculptural effects of light are of no interest to O’Casey — his nudes are cerebral constructs where the emotional charge is delivered through subtle compositional variation and a warm palette of ochres gently accented with black or purple.

Similar in approach, Figure in Landscape and Tree arrest the eye in espousing nature as the very extension of ourselves, with the greens and greys harmonising to soothe and nourish the soul.