His O'Halloran intimate oil-on-board compositions capture surprising moments of light and color in ordinary domestic environments.

Like many of O’Halloran’s paintings, Green Bedroom and Black Chimneypiece position the viewer in rooms that are unpopulated yet crowded with a rich assortment of objects, textures, reflections, and vibrant colors. The titles of these two works indicate the artist’s interest in color, and their high-key palette and deep shadows recall a Fauvist emphasis on the capacity of light and color to signal form. The loose, jostling brushstrokes are offset by heavy vertical and horizontal lines that define furnishings and architectural space. In both, a multitude of forms, windows, and doors structure the compositions, and both face a rear wall head-on; together, these elements create closed spaces of intense visual perception.

from Snay, The Donald and Marilyn Keough Collection of Irish Art (Notre Dame, 2019)