Beyond the stage lights and velvet swing of his jazz performances, Austin O’Brien nurtures two additional passions: painting and photography — twin extensions of the same restless artistic spirit that drives his music.

Born in Ireland, shaped by Paris, and inspired by New York, Austin approaches visual art much like he approaches a jazz standard: with instinct, risk, and emotion.

In his painting, one can sense the raw, gestural energy reminiscent of Jackson Pollock — movement captured mid-explosion — fused with the psychological intensity and distorted humanity often associated with Francis Bacon. His canvases are not polite; they vibrate. They breathe. They suggest late-night Soho studios, Atlantic winds off Dublin Bay, and the moody glow of Parisian streets after rain. Like his voice, his brushwork is expressive, textured, and unapologetically alive.

Photography, however, reveals another side. Here, the drama softens. His lens wanders playfully through city corners, café terraces, musicians backstage, strangers mid-laughter. From Manhattan skylines to Montmartre cafés to quiet Irish coastlines, he captures people and places that simply catch his eye — spontaneous, warm, and unfiltered.

If jazz is his rhythm, painting is his improvisation, and photography is his smile. Together, they complete the portrait of an artist forever observing, forever creating, wherever the journey takes him.