John O'Carroll
These images and tools reverbirate [sic] with the earliest instincts of man to create, not only for function but for ritual as well… the power of the image… it is the primal instinct which I find in the desert which adds to my love and trust in art.
John O’Carroll via Galerie Nanky de Vreeze, 2002
John O’Carroll’s (1958, United Kingdom) work is inspired by his work as an archaeological illustrator with the Dakhleh Oasis Project (DOP) in Egypt. This project is unique because it contains a wide range of study materials, from the development of Stone Age man and the environment’s climatic changes, to the great cultures of ancient Egypt, Rome and Byzantium. His work is the result of contemporary imagination with a strong original influence. The materials O’Carroll uses include natural pigments from the desert, gesso and beeswax applied on wood and linen or handmade paper.
