Once I hopped out of the crowd onto the step in front of the window for a better view. I’m not too sure why I stopped for a closer look that morning, perhaps it was the dark winter which created a frame around the Gallery window acting as a border to the painting, mounting it on the brightly lit window. The painting was so detailed that it looked like a photograph in this setting.
I wanted to know who painted the picture in the window, maybe it was some famous artist from the renaissance period. The gentleman in the shop gave me the artist’s details. The artist’s name was Owen Rohu, I thought perhaps I could Google him or even have a look at wikipedia for some more detail, but decided to do it the old fashioned way and picked up the telephone.
Mr Rohu lives in Ireland, Westport county Mayo to be precise any further west and he would be in New York. He was born and educated in Dublin, he studied Visual Communications, majoring in Illustration, at the Dublin College of Marketing and Design.
Being unfamiliar with the artistic skills required to be in the animation business, I was surprised to hear that Mr Rohu started his career as a Background Artist with animation production company, Murakami Wolf in Dublin before moving to 20th Century Fox Animation Studios in Phoenix, Arizona.
Mr Rohu told me that as long as he could remember he had an interest in drawing and painting, “as a twelve year old I enrolled in an adult education class in drawing and didn’t feel too much out of place.”
Through his school years he developed his “innate interest in a quiet way,
finding inspiration in nature and solving problems through instructional books.”
At the age of fifteen he got encouragement when he won a school award in art and design ‘The Wilkinson Memorial Award’.
After being introduced to the idea of working in the animation industry Mr Rohu became interested in the atmospheric beauty of background painting, the prospects of working in the movie business and painting for a living was appealing.
“From that point I focused my attention on building a career in painting. Becoming a Background Artist seemed a good way to achieve that ambition.”
While working in Phoenix, Arizona Mr Rohu enrolled in evening classes at the Scottsdale Art School to further his development as a painter. While there he became fascinated with oil painting and spent many evenings painting with friends after work. His teacher Joshua Fallik taught him “how to paint oils and engendered in me a love for still life.”
On other influences Mr Rohu explained that he drew influence from many artists. “Sometimes it’s the smallest thing in another artists work that excites. I make a mental note to improve my painting by really pushing that intense colour I’ve seen or play with colour temperature as seen in the paintings of Anders Zorn.”
Four years after arriving in Arizona Mr. and Mrs. Rohu moved to Sydney Australia to work at the Walt Disney Studios. However while in Sydney Mr Rohu said “my interest in oil painting was rapidly beginning to eclipse my career as a background artist and I made a decision to return to Ireland to pursue a career as a full time artist.”
Shortly after arrival back in Ireland fortunately for me Mr Rohu got in contact with the Oisin Gallery in Dublin. Where they staged his first one man show in 2006.
Finally I asked Mr Rohu if he had any words of advise for budding painters.
He said “If there is one thing I would try to get across to someone embarking on a
career in art it would be to trust that your own personal style will emerge if you paint, paint and paint some more it’s as natural as handwriting.”
Mr Rohu is currently exhibiting in
Gallery 13, Hollywood, L.A.
and
The Oisin Gallery, Dublin.
