“William J. O’Brien: From Here to There”
Exhibition Dates: October 1 - November 14, 2025
Artist's Reception: Sunday, October 12, 2025 from 1 to 4 p.m.
"Tea Dance" for National Coming Out Day
Visual Arts Gallery at GovState
William J. O’Brien’s multidisciplinary practice is rooted in a search for identity, connection, and genuine expression through material and process. Drawing inspiration from Modernism, spirituality, personal history, and the traditions of Outsider Art, his work spans drawing, ceramics, textiles, and sculpture. Repetition, ritual, and emotion guide his practice, which O’Brien describes as both refuge and offering—a way of coexisting in the world.
O’Brien has exhibited widely, with solo shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, the Renaissance Society, KMAC Museum, and MAD Museum in New York, among others. His work is held in the permanent collections of major institutions including the Hammer Museum, Pérez Art Museum, The Art Institute of Chicago, and the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art in Tokyo. A recipient of awards from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and Artadia, he is also Professor and Chair of Ceramics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
For O’Brien, art is not about explanation but experience: a dance of color, pattern, and form that reflects both struggle and joy, offering viewers a space for reflection, surprise, and solace.
More about the artist:
https://williamjobrien.com/
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