Joe O'Rourke

How to use

51 x 41cm

About:

Joe O'Rourke (b.1995) is a Manchester-based artist and teacher. He graduated in 2017 from Edinburgh College of Art, and in 2018 he was a prize-winner in the John Moores Painting Prize. In 2019 he began the national collaborative painting project ‘Painters Posting Paintings’. He currently teaches at Edinburgh College of Art and Manchester School of Art and has previously taught at Bolton University. He has two forthcoming solo shows in 2024, at CBS Gallery Liverpool, and Paradise Works Salford.

I am interested in the emotional responsiveness of the act of painting and its infinite possibilities. Working across multiple scales and media, my paintings are often inspired by happenstance, such as an overheard conversation, an observation from a bus window, or an object found. In repurposing found objects, my practice responds to a world full of surplus materials. These materials often become the catalyst for my paintings, offering challenging working positions and unexpected contexts. Recent work has emerged from observations of a transforming ‘Manctopia’, including ideas surrounding urbanization, eco-gentrification, work, well-being, and technological trends.