‘O’Kane’s The House and the Tree takes as its starting point a story about his family home, Cavanacor House near Lifford. It is said that King James II stopped off at Cavanacor en route to the siege of Derry in 1689. A dining table was laid under the canopy of a sycamore tree. Subsequently, as the monarch’s forces retreated and laid waste around them, James spared Cavanacor because he had enjoyed its hospitality. In 1999, the sycamore was hit by lightning, and it formed the centerpiece of the Cultural Centre show, together with a reconstruction of an original part of Cavanacor House that was demolished a half a century ago. It could well be O’Kane’s most ambitious project to date and that’s something for an artist who usually thinks big.’
Aidan Dunne, Chief Art Critic, The Irish Times, January 2008