Ideal Live/Work Space: Artist Eamon O’Kane
Artist Eamon O’Kane is Professor of Visual Art at Bergen National Academy of the Arts, Norway and has had over forty international solo exhibitions. His artwork hangs in numerous public and private collections worldwide including Deutsche Bank, Microsoft and Bank of Ireland Collection.
His paintings have focused on classic examples of modern architecture, including the Eames House, while his more recent work includes installations like the Eames Studio Limerick and Froebel Studio: A History of Play (pictured below). This installation, with its playroom quality, was inspired in part by the fact that Eames, as well as Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier, and Piet Mondrian, were educated using the Froebel method of teaching with blocks and shapes.
Above: Eamon O’Kane and his installation Froebel Studio: A History of Play which was part of the BROODWORK: It’s About Time exhibition.
Here O’Kane describes his live/work studio in a wonderful abandoned plant nursery in Denmark.
The first time that I was able to have my living situation and a good studio in the same place was a few years ago when we moved into a house built in 1905 next to a former plant nursery.
The place is situated in the countryside just outside Odense in Denmark and the dilapidated buildings are working well as studios. At my disposal are an old furnace room, a staff canteen, a packing building, garages and a warehouse in addition to 14 greenhouses.
These spaces offer a range of possibilities for experimentation and storage. I like the idea that these items take on a new life in the history of the place.
In the main house I have set up my library and research office, which I also use as a drawing studio.
My sons Emil and Mikkel were born in 2005 and 2007. They provide a constant flow of joy and inspiration, and continually prove that play is at the root of all creativity.
Becoming a parent opened my eyes up to not only my parents’ influence on us as children (they are both artists and three of my five siblings are also artists, one is a curator) but also how life and art and striking a balance is a continual process and should be approached as such.
