Untitled Collage 2

John J. O'Connor was born in Westfield, MA and received an MFA in painting and an MS in Art History and Criticism from Pratt Institute in 2000.

He attended The MacDowell Colony, the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, was a recipient of New York Foundation for the Arts Grants in Painting and Drawing, the Pollock-Krasner Foundation grant, and the Marie Walsh Sharpe Foundation Studio residency.

John has been in numerous exhibitions abroad, including The Lab (Ireland), Martin Asbaek Gallery (Denmark), Neue Berliner Raume (Germany), Rodolphe Janssen Gallery (Brussels), the Louhu District Art Museum (Shenzhen, China), TW Fine Art (Australia); and in the US at Andrea Rosen Gallery, Pierogi Gallery, Arkansas Arts Center, Weatherspoon Museum, Ronald Feldman Gallery, Marlborough Gallery, White Columns, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Baltimore, the Queens Museum, and the Tang Museum.

His exhibitions have been reviewed in Bomb Magazine, The New York Times, Artforum, the Village Voice, Art Papers, the Brooklyn Rail, and Art in America. John presented his work in discussion with Fred Tomaselli at The New Museum, and his work is included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Weatherspoon Museum, Hood Museum, Southern Methodist University, and the New Museum of Contemporary Art. A catalogue spanning 10 years of John’s work was published by Pierogi Gallery with essays by Robert Storr, John Yau, and Rick Moody. He teaches at Sarah Lawrence College.

The upcoming shows mentioned in the interview will be at False Flag Gallery and Pierogi Gallery. O'Connor also has a 2-person show upcoming at Pazo Fine Art.

The books referenced in the interview were Daniil Kharms, "Today I Wrote Nothing" and Antonio Damasio, "Feeling and Knowing."

"I Shot," 82.25 x 70.25 inches, colored pencil and graphite on paper, 2020

"Charlie (Butterfly, day 3)," 86 X 70 inches, colored pencil and graphite on paper, 2018