CUT IT OUT I MARTIN O'NEILL

PROFILE

London born Irish bred Martin O’Neill is an artist & illustrator who creates mixed media collages for a wide range of International clients encompassing publishing, advertising, design, film, interiors and experiential design.

PROCESS

Martin’s work evolves from a subtle alchemy of collage, texture, photography, paint and digital techniques. He approaches each project with a fresh perspective and a constantly evolving array of processes fuel his practice. Years of hands-on studio experimentation, rooted in a BA in printmaking, have resulted in a unique brand of analogue based image-making. Martin works from a large archive of found and self generated material and also with supplied imagery.

STUDIO

Cut it Out Studio was formed in 2003 with Creative Partner Jackie Parsons. Moving from Harlesden, North West London, they merged spaces to set up Cut it Out Studio in St Leonards on Sea - some 60k south of the capital.

ANIMATION

Martin collaborates directly with a range of animators & motion directors for advertising, design, gaming and stage production and can incorprate brand imagery and client footage.

DOCUMENTARY & FILM / CutitOutXGriff

Since 2019 Martin has collaborated with Animator / Director Andrew Griffin, working as CutitOutXGriff they specialize in conceptual narrative based animation and graphics for documentary, TV and film.

With a combined 40+ years as seasoned illustrators their story-telling dna drives a unique cinematic approach to in-show sequences and titles. Whether creating animations from scratch or splicing client imagery, in-show assets and archive footage they create a range of seamless narrative bridges in unfolding stories.

Clients include HBO, OASIS Live 25, Netflix, Showtime, PBS, Imagine Studios and The Holocaust Memorial Trust. Their award-winning sequences have contributed to three Emmy-nominated and one Peabody-winning documentaries. Their work has had featured screenings at the 2020 and 2023 Sundance Film Festivals.

ON COLLAGE

“ As an avid scavenger of ephemera, Martin O’Neill’s glorious compositions begin long before he assembles them as images. He seems to carry these found treasures in his head while the stowed physical pieces lie dormant in an erratic filing system of studio file drawers, toffee tins and shoeboxes until the right moment comes along. Because he sees the inherent value in every tiny piece, whether it’s an oil stained envelope or the button off a child’s cardigan, he develops a unique relationship with his archive. This makes all the difference when he brings everything together in an image because we feel what he feels; his passion is infectious.

Working intuitively allows him to spot potential combinations, recognising and then capitalising on serendipity and the element of chance, while the final choices are informed by assiduously honed design skills. He has an enviable sense of composition, balancing shape, colour, line, texture and type with a precision that makes it all seem effortless. You have to have a really good eye to do all that. And Martin O’Neill has the best. He is a true master of collage.”

– Graham Rawle. June 2019

“If Peter Blake is the Paul McCartney of collage, then O’Neill is its Tom Waits, a pre-digital artist for a post-digital age.“

– John L Walters. Eye Magazine. Eye 69.

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