Meet the Artist
Born and raised in Hawaii, Caleb O’Connor attended the Maryland Institute College of Art, where he studied painting. He was awarded a Fulbright grant to study in Italy for nine months, and he lived near Pietrasanta, known as the Italian center of marble and bronze sculpture. In Italy, O’Connor pursued his dream of expanding his vocabulary into the realm of three dimensions, learning marble carving and bronze casting techniques.
Following his time in Italy, Caleb returned home to the island of Maui and was able to concentrate on a new body of work. A series of landscape paintings emerged, illustrating the trail from the small town of Makawao, through the open fields of Kula, and towards the magnificent views on Haleakala Crater. Several years and several states later, Caleb moved to Tuscaloosa, Alabama, where he worked on a three-year project for the new Tuscaloosa Federal Building and Courthouse – a series of large-scale historical paintings.
Caleb’s work in oil painting, marble sculpture, and bronze sculpture is best known for its figurative realism. His work is often characterized as "magic realism" due to his ability to capture figures in motion and seemingly impossible situations that are made believable through attention to detail. Throughout all of his works is a continuous exploration of nature and the human experience. Every figure in his work is an individual person, created from direct observation and with great care in rendering facial expression and body language.
See more of Caleb's work at his website.