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until 31.07. | #5095ARTatBerlin | Galerie Michael Haas shows from Thursday, 9. July 2026 the exhibition Towards Childhood by the artist Phelan O’Hara.
For over 15 years, the British artist Phelan O’Hara (b. 1940) has been painting children’s drawings. These naïve drawings, executed with clumsy strokes on small scraps of paper and thin paper – created more casually than as a mere pastime for children – hold a fascination for him, which he explores by asking the question: What happens when you transfer a child’s drawing to a larger format?
However, the series of works, which is being exhibited for the first time under the title Towards Childhood, is not simply a collection of copies of existing drawings. Rather, O’Hara’s pictures are original compositions drawn from the stereotypical forms and arrangements typical of children’s drawings: the stylised tree beneath a round yellow sun; people and animals with stick-like legs, populating the lower edge of the canvas—which symbolises the ground—and living in houses with triangular roofs. All of this dispenses with realistic perspective and is reduced to the bare essentials in terms of elements and colours. The almost primitive simplicity of the depiction, in the art-historical tradition of Art Brut, is the goal O’Hara strives for (though has not yet achieved).
Phelan O’Hara imitates the pre-alphabetic visual language in which children record what they see and experience, and supplements the motifs with his own elements. He draws inspiration from an English fairy tale, the décor of a holiday accommodation, or lyrics from famous songs such as ‘House of the Rising Sun’ – in the doorway of the House of many colours, the stern figure of a mother appears, sewing a pair of jeans for her son in 1960s New Orleans. The humour characteristic of O’Hara’s œuvre is combined with his knowledge of the past and his awareness of the everyday situations surrounding him.
Phelan O’Hara, House of many colours, 2016, Acrylic and pastel on canvas, 118 x 77,8 cm
At the same time, working with colour and, in some cases, collage on canvas represents a renewed approach to a form of painting for O’Hara. Through his choice of media, he transposes the drawings into a new medium and establishes their legitimacy as works of art.
The artist will be present at the exhibition opening on Thursday, 9 July.
Location: Niebuhrstraße 5, Berlin-Charlottenburg
Opening: Thursday, 9. July 2026, 6:00–8:00 pm
Exhibition dates: Thursday, 9. July – Friday, 31. July 2026
To the gallery
Titel image caption: Phelan O’Hara, Girl with a Pram, 2016, acrylic and graphite on canvas, 66,3 x 90 cm
Exhibition Phelan O’Hara – Galerie Michael Haas | Zeitgenössische Kunst in Berlin | Contemporary Art | Exhibitions Berlin Galleries | ART at Berlin
