O’Neill pioneered the iconic celebrity portrait and became famed for his instinct and ability to capture his subjects in candid and sometimes unorthodox, poses and locations. His portraits, which can be found hanging in galleries and private collections worldwide, are a visual timeline chronicling the movements of major names from the Hollywood elite, to rock and roll stars and even royalty from the 1960s onwards. He has been credited with changing the face of photography, and was recognised by The Royal Society of Arts with a rare Centenary Medal, of which only one dozen have ever been awarded.
"The human form is such a fantastic thing to paint; the eye never tires of seeing what it is programmed to respond to on such a gut level. Exploring the human form provides me a rich seem of inspiration both on a formal visual plain and perhaps more importantly on an innate, visceral level. I want the work to have an initial raw impact which given time perhaps will inspire memories and fantasies which can become intertwined. It's this line between fantasy and reality which I believe we all walk on from time to time that interests me. My goal is to leave to the viewer some tangible emotional feeling. If the flat areas of colour I create on the canvas surface can be given depth in the imagination of the viewer then I feel it's been successful. Perhaps surprisingly given the simplicity and graphic nature of my finished works, I hardly ever know what they are going to look like when I start on them. The preparatory work is based in the sketchbook. This is where the formal reduction of the source material starts. It is a trial and error exercise based on experience and gut instinct. On an aesthetic level I want to create a formal relationship of abstract shapes and voids within the predetermined field of the canvas boundary. However this needs to be balanced with the emotive content I want the piece to convey. This is the most challenging but exciting part of the process for me, as the final composition reveals it's self through the pencil marks. This basic composition is then transferred on to the canvas where invariably more changes are made. Before finally covering the canvas as quickly as possible with acrylic paint to ascertain the colours and tones I want. Once happy with these then the painstaking layers of paint are applied, the processes of building up the layers to achieve the completely flat finish is one that takes great patience, however ultimately brings the most satisfaction as the work starts takes on a life of its own. As I create the sharp lines on the canvas surface it starts to blur the lines between reality and fantasy."
