Chicago, May 15- June 26, 2011
In his words, “it’s like being able to go in and do something everyday consistently creates a certain level of steadfastness in the mind and the body, and I think that is what has made me an artist rather than pursuit of beauty.”
If you live in Chicago, and love objects + art, do not miss the current show at the University of Chicago, The Renaissance Society... Trust me. William J' O Brien's work in a solo exhibition, on plywood tables. I'm bummed I wont be seeing this in person, but lucky for the rest of us, The Renaissance Society has a fantastic website, along with tons, tons of photographs, and a video of him.... Go here...
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(text below taken from a essay by Hamza Walker)
O’Brien prefers to openly share them as art. He is conspicuously prolific. His torrent of production includes drawings, ceramics, paintings, sculptures, collages, videos, zines, and tapestries, all of a volume that makes them, as symptoms, far outweigh their source in any disease. He has consciously forsaken remembering in favor of a repetition-compulsion that in his case translates more accurately as repetition-combustion. He characterizes his practice in terms of “discipline,” and “exertion” and relates art-making to a therapeutic activity helping him achieve a psychic balance.
In his words, “it’s like being able to go in and do something everyday consistently creates a certain level of steadfastness in the mind and the body, and I think that is what has made me an artist rather than pursuit of beauty.”
Still producing his own ceramics at a community arts center, O’Brien views his work with exceptional humility, stating “it was just coincidental that I started to master the material.” Regarding authorship, O’Brien would chalk it up to the muses, if not the channeling of spirits.
“I struggle tremendously with my own authorship, asking myself, who is making this work. Who is this person? Who makes this? Because I don’t really think about it as my hand.” Not aimed at mastery, O’Brien’s discipline is geared toward dispelling a sense of self-consciousness. It is not surprising that a generous portion of his work, seen all at once, bears resemblance to the hordes of ceramic whatnots produced daily at community arts centers, as well as to a host of seminal Twentieth Century artists and ethnographic objects from throughout history. His quizzical goal, like many of his artistic brethren, is to find for himself an origin of creativity, one producing symptoms that by another name might be called joy.
(taken from a essay by Hamza Walker)
The Renaissance Society
Chicago, May 15- June 26, 2011
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