Landscape 

This landscape was painted by Roderic O'Conor using oil on canvas. It's not just an image, it's a record of a particular kind of labor, and the way that labor relates to nature. Look closely, and you'll see the brushstrokes, thick and visible. The paint itself becomes a kind of raw material, like clay handled by a sculptor. Oil paint, of course, had become widely available during the 19th century, thanks to industrialization. The readymade pigments allowed artists to focus on their individual touch, the gestures of the hand. What O'Conor does here is embrace that hand-made quality. He revels in the materiality of the paint, building up layer upon layer to create this vibrant, pulsing field of color. In doing so, O'Conor elevates the act of painting itself. He reminds us that art is not just about representation, but about the physical transformation of materials. It is a celebration of the artist's work.