William J. O’Brien

Chicago artist William J. O’Brien's (b.1975) increasingly inventive sculpture work displays a messy exuberance that is, on one hand, distinctly anti-Minimalist in its sensibility. On the other hand, his work resists the sentimentality in the recent revival of “the handmade,” even while using ceramics, a material almost synonymous with old notions of craft. For his first museum solo exhibition, he will present approximately 100 ceramic works, many of them never before exhibited.

O’Brien’s increasingly inventive sculpture work displays a messy exuberance that is, on one hand, distinctly anti-Minimalist in its sensibility. On the other hand, his work resists the sentimentality in the recent revival of “the handmade,” even while using materials, like ceramic or yarn, that are almost synonymous with old notions of craft. While no material appears to be off limits for O’Brien, an important uniting tie is a certain attitude toward the role of the pedestal—the pedestal is not a vehicle for display, but is integral to each work.

William J. O´Brien