Mark O'Keeffe
Mark O'Keeffe is a portrait artist from Dublin. He began drawing portraits in 1998. In his work, he is always careful in attempting to achieve accuracy in his portraits, believing that no detail can be regarded as minor.
Mark achieved his first success in this area in 2000, when the then Taoiseach, Bertie Ahern, presented one of his portraits to the then U.S. President, Bill Clinton. Subsequently, Bertie Ahern went on to present Mark's work to several more figures, including Pope Benedict XVI and Tony Blair.
In 2002, his work was presented by the then Lord Mayor of Dublin, Michael Mulcahy, to the former President of the Soviet Union, Mikhail Gorbachev. His work has also been received by many other notables, including George Bizos, Desmond Tutu and Al Gore.
Galleries & Publications
Mark has participated in several exhibitions, including a solo one in Malahide Library in 2012. He has taken part in group exhibitions in The Duke Street Gallery, Apollo Gallery, the Nora Dunne Gallery, Grogan's Pub, and The View Gallery.
Both in 2013 and 2025, he had the honour to be invited to Áras an Uachtaráin in Dublin, where he was privileged to present his work to the President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins.
His work has appeared in journals and other publications as far away as the Netherlands and New Zealand. In 2013, he provided the illustrations for "The GAA & Radio Éireann: 1926 - 2010" by Pat Guthrie.
"indeed a vy fine representation of the character of my late father"
"it is an excellent likeness - much better than most of the photographs"