The University News

StudiO’Brien: the contemporary Catholic artist

By The EiC - January 28, 2014

Killian Beeler, Contributing Writer

The first part of this article’s title is the clever name of the self-
taught Canadian-Catholic writer and artist Michael D. O’Brien’s
website. Students might be familiar with some of his spectacularly
well-written and thrilling novels, such as the apocalyptic “Father
Elijah” (1996), which centers on a Jewish Holocaust survivor turned
Carmelite priest and his call to convert the supposed Anti-Christ;
the trilogy of “Strangers and Sojourners” (1997); “Plague Journal”
(1998); “Eclipse of The Sun” (1999), a story that tells the tale of a
family of exiles in a Canada taken over by a dystopian police state;
and the more recent “A Father’s Tale” (2011), a wonderful story
about a small-town Canadian father’s journey, attempting to
rescue his son and traveling through Europe, Russia, and China. This
St. Luke is here portrayed as
last book is perfect for anyone experiencing Rome-sickness. Peter
evangelist, physician, and
Kreeft, acclaimed Catholic philosopher and professor at Boston artist. He holds the Scriptures
and carries a doctor’s case.
College, had this to say about the book: “This is a magnum opus …
–Photo courtesy of
All of O’Brien’s large and human soul is in this book … father, studiobrien.com

Catholic, Russophile, Canadian, personalist, artist, storyteller,

romantic. There is not one boring or superfluous page. When you
finish “The Father’s Tale” you will say of it what Tolkien said of “The Lord of the Rings”: it has
one fault: it is too short. A thousand pages of Michael O’Brien is like a thousand sunrises:
who’s complaining?”

O’Brien’s books are perfect for the UD student seeking a break from the intensity of the
epics, plays and novels of the Lit Trad sequence. The author’s novels read with the simplicity
of a potboiler, but the substance of writers like Melville and Dostoevsky. They are
phenomenal stories that will strike deep into your spiritual core. They are Catholic novels and
he makes no attempt to hide it, but rarely does one feel that O’Brien is pushing that agenda
upon the book. As Chesterton noted, “A good novel tells us the truth about its hero; but a
bad novel tells us the truth about its author.” I honestly believe, whether you are Catholic or
Protestant, religious or nonreligious, that the search for truth that drew you to UD (whether
you realized it or not), will also draw you to O’Brien’s books to find the truth in his stories’
heroes.
 Although he became famous for his novels, O’Brien was actually a
painter long before he became a successful writer. He received a
rather poor grade in his high-school art class, but later, in his early
20s, he began to “doodle” a bit and realized he had a gift. In 1970,
at the age of 22, he put on his first exhibit at a major gallery in
Ottawa. Since then he has put on over 40 exhibits across North
America. In 1976, he decided to focus exclusively on religious
artwork. Rejected by the mainstream Canadian art world, O’Brien
took his work to exhibits in church basements across Canada. He
and his large Catholic family survived for many years onthe income
of a dirt-poor artist. His attempts to publish his written work were
repeatedly crushed by Canadian publishers, who were only willing to
publish if he agreed to take out the Catholicity in his works, a
The Divine Mercy of Jesus,
as portrayed in O’Brien’s demand with which he refused to comply. It was not until Ignatius
unique style.
Press published “Father Elijah,” a work that O’Brien began nearly 20
–Photo courtesy of
studiobrien.com years ago after receiving inspiration from Adoration of the Blessed
Sacrament, that this all changed. “Father Elijah” became a bestseller,
and O’Brien came to the forefront of the North American Catholic
world.

No doubt, he is better known for his writing, but even still, his artwork should not be pushed
aside. Personally, I have never encountered any contemporary artist, religious or otherwise,
so innovative, unique and creative and yet so true to the tradition of Western civilization. He
does not paint in the “spirit of Vatican II.” Yet neither is he a “raddy traddy” obsessed with
restoring the glorious Catholic liturgy and art of the “good old days” instead of attempting to
create new beauty for our Lord. Why shouldn’t we have our own art for the Lord that is
distinctively “us,” that calls upon the traditions of the dead, while speaking to those yet to be
born? O’Brien takes the icon tradition of Christianity and beautifully applies it to our own time,
pushing the artistic creativity of the pilgrim Church forward. I suppose that his art could be
described as Neo-Byzantine with a style distinctively modern, but that doesn’t really do it
justice. It is so much more. I suggest taking a closer look at it at his site,
www.studiobrien.com.

Professor Emeritus Dr. Sommerfeldt, our great medieval historian, once said that UD “is not
just a liberal arts university. It is the liberal arts university.” Similarly, Michael D. O’Brien is not
just a contemporary Catholic artist. He is the contemporary Catholic artist — and, for that
matter, novelist. I leave the reader with these words from him:

“Prayer and self-discipline are the foundation of everything I do. Most often, the origins of a
novel or a painting will appear during prayer, sometimes while I’m praying before the exposed
Blessed Sacrament. I ponder it in the heart, listening interiorly, thinking about it too. Then if
there is a strong peace and an inner sense of ‘rightness,’ I begin giving a form to the essential
‘word’ or logos that came with the light or grace. One can call it inspiration or the muses. But
it is, I believe, the phenomenon of co-creation, grace and nature working together to bring
into the world something that hasn’t been seen before. God-willing, it will be a work of truth
and beauty. Thus the need to be constantly praying and at the same time working hard to
develop the skills of writing and painting — all within the understanding that it is a vocation, a
gift, not my personal possession.”

The EiC
http://udallasnews.com