Cormac O'Leary was born in Cork city, Ireland in 1969. Having completed his art studies in Co. Sligo, Cormac O'Leary moved to Barcelona, Spain. While there he regularly visited the Picasso Art Museum, the Joan Miro Foundation, The Antoni Tapies Foundation and the famous Gaudi buildings. On returning to Ireland Cormac joined other local artists and set up group art studios. Cormac began to exhibit his paintings locally and nationally, and also published art reviews and illustrations in various outlets, including Arts West magazine, Circa, and the Sculpture Society of Ireland newsletter.

Cormac O'Leary has won several awards for his contemporary paintings and has exhibited regularly in London and America. Today Cormac is represented in many national and international art collections.

Cormac O'Leary is an artist who produces paintings mainly in oils and acrylics. He is much influenced by his immediate environment, by the dramatic Irish landscape, but also by figurative and abstract images