This is the work of an observational painter who relates directly to the object and who relishes the challenge of realistic painting. The subject matter is food in plenty. In fact, the profusion of fruit and vegetables all piled up in profusion is overwhelming. Yet these are not innocent or unselfconscious representations. Viewed through the perspective of Post-modernism, it is clear that there is a more complex agenda here. Various pictorial precedents and conventions are played with, thus mediating between the objects and their representation.

The most obvious pictorial reference is to the Dutch 17th-century tradition of still life (excellent examples of which were available to the painter in the National Gallery of Ireland). Within Dutch still-life painting there was often another level of symbolism conveying a moral message like 'vanitas'. Paintings by O'Neill are not quite that. Nevertheless, there is a play with symbolic meaning. Her Bird trinity with dead birds, indicative of morality, is very much in the Dutch trompe l'oeil manner; it is also reminiscent of the work of Edward McGuire.

Geraldine O'Neill: False teeth, 2002, oil on linen, 56 x 76 cm; courtesy Kevin Kavanagh Gallery

The central theme of these paintings is food for living - not a neutral display of objects. In Byrne's pig the dish of bacon and cabbage is indicated by a pig's head beside a York cabbage. Ham sandwich is a witty painting with a tiny toy pig on lettuce and bread. Fish appear in various places ready for cooking. The wittiest is False teeth, showing the essential human eating equipment, but complemented by a doll's head with a miniature face in the mouth opening, gently satirising the human appetite.

Toys are repeatedly included, such as toy animals or even toy vehicles. The clearest use of this is Cowboys and indians, reminiscent of the work of Mick O'Dea. This playful spirit is particularly evident in the depiction of balloons - one of Mickey Mouse - which is an ironic recycling of Pop Art conventions. Balloons are indeed appropriate to a celebration of food.

Another pictorial convention is that of Child Art, which is deliberately introduced in trompe l'oeil 'pictures within a picture' in two examples. The Child Art 'specimens' are presented in quotation marks as it were. Landscape includes a child's schematic drawing of nature which in its simplification is at the other extreme to the painter's own meticulous realism in depicting the paper which carries the highly knowing recreation of Child Art.

The issue of the artificiality of all the paintings is constantly referred to by the inclusion of a saucepan with a brush, as well as tubes of paint in several instances. This is analogous to the symbolic Dutch use of the skull. The brushes underline the painted artificial nature of all the lush food which the artist has 'cooked up' through the technique of oil painting on canvas. In Beetroot the painted leaves of the vegetable are echoed in a minor key by the flowery wallpaper of the background, which in reality is a flat mechanically printed surface, but here it is lovingly hand-painted. In this way these paintings are very much 'art about art'.

The largest and by far the most dramatic painting is Holy Mary and the chewing gum machine. The figure of the Virgin is in the conventional blue gown, but holding a chewing-gum capsule. The central image is a massive chewing-gum machine which, in its close proximity to the Virgin, has a disconcerting resemblance to modern votive shrines beneath sacred figures in Catholic churches. These modern church shrines have electric lights (not candles) activated by a coin in a slot. Perhaps this painting, with the religious connotations of its gold frame, is a comment on the secularisation of Irish society where the ritual of getting chewing gum in return for a coin has replaced the pious folk rituals of the past. The painting has certain similarities to the work of Conor Walton whose approach has a strong intellectual current allied to realism.

In formal terms the exhibition is a virtuoso technical performance. There is a complete command of realistic techniques.

Geraldine O'Neill: Bird trinity, 2003, oil on linen, 51 x 76 cm;courtesy Kevin Kavanagh Gallery

The objects are often viewed at very close quarters and from above, creating a strong dramatic impact which can be claustrophobic. Drawing and composition are tightly controlled, sometimes using a diagonal grid. There is particular mastery of lighting: major lights, reflected lights, cast shadows, and high lights. Textures of all kinds are captured. The warm colours further enhance the elaborate qualities of the display.

There is a light-hearted playfulness and humour about much of this work but that is not to subvert the seriousness of the intention. However, with such a technique at her command, perhaps the artist might consider broadening the intellectual range of her subject matter in the future.

John Turpin is head of History of Art and Design, and Complementary Studies, National College of Art and Design, Dublin.

Geraldine O'Neill: Snab Smaointe, Kevin Kavanagh Gallery, April/May 2003

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