
Spotlight Artist
Kelly O'Brien
Midwest
Artist Statement
“We live in a linguistic culture and everything has to be turned
into language. People don’t understand anything until you’ve
explained it.” This is a form of visual obtuseness that comes
from being raised on television—“which absolutely deadens the
imagination and deadens the senses. You just sit there with your
mouth open.”
–Emma Brockes, quoting Carl Andre, in “I’m a Hopeless Drawer—
and a Terrible Painter,” 2013
I find value in disregarded cultural trash. Our decompression
tendencies expose guilty pleasures. We choose to disengage,
and the distraction is a privilege. Can worth be reinstated in
this slacker movement if examined against art history? Through
humor, I hope to suggest critiques of our learned art world,
challenging the obvious assumptions that we routinely follow.
Stereotypes and generalizations, along with hierarchical material
associations, visually wrestle for the spotlight. Expectations
of what is considered historically or culturally valuable are
exaggerated for these compositional battles. With heroic art
practices like oil painting and the structural trust gained through
my sculptural forms, I rescue the integrity of conceptual art.
Artist's Additional works
Works shared by the artist outside of their featured New American Paintings selections


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