Recent and Upcoming Exhibitions, Press etc.:
“Showmen”: Tim Best, Titus O’Brien, Tom Orr and Cameron Schoepp
at Brand 10 Art Space, Ft Worth, Texas, Mar. 9- Apr. 28, 2012
“Showmen brings these four artists together in an exhibition that investigates space, material, narrative and intuition. Each artist offers a unique inquiry into various degrees of thought about the physical world contrasted with interior lives. Their work addresses: a fascination with simplicity and universality (Schoepp), the space between painting and sculpture focusing on idea driven site-specific installation (Orr), narrative using metaphor as inner struggle (Best) and the intuitive and expressive inquiry into fundamental existential realities (O’Brien).“
review in Glasstire:
“The two paintings by Titus O’Brien, Avatamsaka III and Avatamsaka IV, are montages of fractured architecture, fabric and shadow, full of Futurist era energy and exactitude. For all their jumbled, virile imagery, the paintings have this discerning, impeccable feeling — like consciously tousled hair or a perfectly rumpled linen jacket. They made me think of Kim Jong Il or Putin on holiday, manically sipping good champagne.” Lucia Simek
review in Modern Dallas:
“Titus O’Brien’s paintings are like a collage of exploding black and white backdrops of a cityscape. I recently watched the old 1920’s movie “The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari” and these works remind me a great deal of the expressionist style of the film. The limited colors and geometric shapes with hints of shadowy buildings seem on the surface to be talking a similar language as Orr’s work, but
O’Brien’s titles “Avatamsaka IV” and “Avatamsaka III,” suggest a spiritual influence that makes
me want to look at the paintings a little deeper.“
“Well Done Well”: New Work by Maria Jonsson, Titus O’Brien, J. Thomas Pallas, Danielle Paz, & Casey Smallwood
Reception, Saturday, July 23, 2011 · 6:00pm – 9:00pm
1401 W. Wabansia Ave. Chicago, IL 60622
The Kinsey Institute Art Juried Show 2011
reception, May 20, 2011, through August
The Kinsey Institute for Sex, Gender, and Reproduction
Indiana University,
Bloomington, Indiana
A Very Kind Write Up by Paul Klein on Huffington Post, 4/2011
“Continuing this theme of artists and young arts entities taking responsibility for themselves, not relying on the old-school, gallery system, is an impressive exhibit of new paintings by the Best Chicago Artist You Never Heard Of: Titus O’Brien, who presents an open house / open studio this Sunday afternoon. A teacher at the School of the Art Institute, O’Brien’s career path has meandered through Zen Buddhist residences, a stint as an art critic, an MFA from Yale and extended time at Marfa. It is a profound pleasure to talk art with someone whose art historical knowledge is deep and who is comfortable acknowledging those antecedents in his artwork. I find O’Brien’s work fresh, yet a continuation of art historical issues; beautifully executed, but not anal; decipherable, yet challenging; and muted, yet powerful.”
