David O'Brien

My work is a form of Archeology. It’s about the decomposition of industrial materials, the scars and cracks in surfaces and the way in which synthetic objects like polyester clothes, cardboard and concrete find their way back into earth. If we accept the notion that all matter is to some degree “alive”, then I document what life is like for things we fabricate and leave on the ground, for pavement and plastic scattered all over the landscape. Beneath the politics of materialism, what sort of tectonic dialog is happening between these strange, machine-made things and the soil they return to? Are there other narratives embossed in the ground that I can decipher?

Residencies / Fellowships:
Sept. 2013 - SIM Residency, Reykjavik, Iceland
July 2011 - Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT (Artists Grant)
Education:
Bachelor of Architecture, Virginia Tech, 2000

Solo Exhibitions
2017 - Disc Paintings & Contested Ground, installed permanently at Jett Hall, NMSU, Las Cruces, NM
2016 - In the Garden of Externalities, Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM
2013 - Pixilated Drift (3 person show) Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA
2012 - My Pet Doppelgänger, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2009 - Curiosity, Janine Bean Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Explosions in a Mental Sky, Cerasoli Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
2008 - 2d Culture, Cerasoli Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

Group Exhibitions
March 2018 - The Other Art Fair, Downtown Los Angeles
Mirror Box, Form and Concept Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2017 - Long Echo, Curated by Strangers Collective, Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM
2016 - Narrows, Curated by Strangers Collective, Community Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
Cabin Fever - Curated by Strangers Collective, Caldera Gallery, Santa Fe, NM
2015 - El Zaguan Salons, (multiple group shows and events) Santa Fe, NM
Group Show, Chiaroscuro Contemporary Art, Santa Fe, NM
Via Negativa - The Transcendence of the unReal, South Bay Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
Hand Pulled - The Current Practice in Printmaking, OnSite:Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY
2014 - (screening) Sphæræ at AXS Arts Festival, Pasa...