Kevin O'brien

Kevin O'brien


About

Born in the 50's, eventually influenced by abstract expressionism, be-bop, the beat, etc. Grew up in 60's, with rock and roll, high-energy jazz, etc.

I am a proponent of Pan-Global, Industrial, Supra-Expressionism which attempts to utilize materials from global industrial culture within works created as art. The juxtaposition of the bold expressionistic strokes on the stark industrial materials causes a good deal of tension. The bright colors used in the textures further differentiates the energy of expressionistic strokes from the dullness of the main materials.

Reverence for the fine finished patinas that normally apply to art, as in art school or commercial art can be dispensed with for the boldness of an energy more sympathetic with rock and roll (e.g., jimi hendrix), r & b and/or
jazz music (e.g., Coltrane). The high-power and energy of these musical expressions had a dramatic impact. Use of industrial materials in new
combines (as influenced by Rauschenberg early on) further stressed the idea of how materials could be combined and what marked a work as "finished."
A new primitive kind of "carpentry" skills were developed to hold these materials together, and worry about loose hanging edges was lost.

Expressionistic tendencies were heavily influenced by key Expressionists from Van Gogh though Abstract Expressionism and Action Painting. They walk a thin line between markings on some surface that depict something, and tracing the actual flow of energy through some random being.

Of course, there was a new vocabulary of objects that needed to be created and new motifs that needed to be developed to be depicted using this form of expression. My symbols were inspired by Klee, Dubuffet, children's art, people of many different lands. Of course, everyday objects depicted as in Pop were sucked into this imagery through the industrial-scape. I try to develop a symbol from pseudo-figurative state, along a continuum until it becomes my own. The symbols would be fashioned more in the brute manner of
Dubuffet, children or early cultures, as it fit more with expressionistic force.

Helping to break things up into new arrangements, pieces and relationships, even going to the nonsensical as in Dada, were the effects of Surrealism on my work. Its super-focus and startling sharpness helped provide a basis for the glistening effects I like to add to some works, as if glowing within an industrial subway, within a cave. The rearrangement of shape and form helped me to melt normal shapes into new forms, which could better be used to express their industrial energy.

I do not feel that use of the basic materials of painting has been exhausted, or that art now must explore new materials/media to be able to make a valid statement.

Finally, since, to me, the spiritual is directly self-evident, it is also present in my work. The political and socio-political world are foreign to my art.
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Location
Boston, MA, United States
Website
http://www.klobart.com
Education
BFA - studied with John Grillo (a student of Hans Hoffman). A few small, local exhibitions, including a long corridor at Boston City Hall where I could display abou 30 works. Some contemporary gallery directors (Gillian Levine who was at the ICA, Boston and Carl Belz, who was at the Rose Art Gallery, Brandeis) came to my workspace to see my work (after viewing slides) and were very encouraging., Read More

Friends

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  • Bruce Livingstone
  • Ogrutan - Prata Laura-Angela

Self Portrait 2013

Mixed Media

Kevin O'brien
United States
Original $3,500

Kevin O'brien
United States
Original $4,700

Big Fish

Painting

Kevin O'brien
United States
Original $3,000

Kevin O'brien
United States
Original $3,600
Prints from $60

Kevin O'brien
United States
Original $3,950
Prints from $99

Kevin O'brien
United States
Original $4,000
Bison
Mixed Drink (Powerhouse 1972)
Untitled
House
Big Fish
wave
Glass of Red Wine

Events & Exhibitions

Exhibitions

Parallax Art Fair, NYC, NY - November, 2012 - van Gogh's Sunflowers, Electric Reindeer 3

Parallax Art Fair, NYC, NY - August, 2012 - Electric Reindeer 2, Celtic Dragon

Art at 12, Boston, MA August, 2012 - Big Fish, my private Auvers 2012


Parallax Art Fair, London, UK - May 2012 - Big Fish, Hi Fi Hamburg, Google (on my computer screen), my private Auvers 2012

*Artslant 2011 Showcase Winner(s) - Mixed Media


Computer at Phoenix Tech
On exhibit Ferbruary 2011 in Online (Dis)Connect at Altered Esthetics

Big Fish
On exhibit April 2007 in Art Reincarnated at Altered Esthetics
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