Hughie O'Donohue's art is down to earth

THE sublime terrain of Erris, Co Mayo, has informed the paintings of Hughie O’Donoghue for three decades. ‘Gort Rua’, the exhibition of his paintings at the Oliver Sears Gallery in Dublin, is a testament to the relationship.

“Erris is where my mother came from,” says O’Donoghue, who was raised in Manchester. “I’ve been going there for many years. The paintings are about place rather than being landscapes — how place can take a hold of your imagination. It’s a place I feel really rooted in, that I’ve felt compelled to return to over the years.”

O’Donoghue has lived in the UK and Italy, but the Irish landscape consumes him. Kilkenny was home for 15 years, while his children attended school, but now Erris is his base.