KMAC Opens First Solo Exhibition

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Jan. 13, 2017) For the first time since its reopening, after the completion of a full renovation in July, KMAC Museum will host its first solo exhibition, Oscillates Wildly. Nearly 90 works by acclaimed Chicago artist William J. O’Brien will go on exhibit beginning January 21, 2017; it will run through April 9, 2017.

O’Brien shifts freely from creating ceramic and steel sculptures to working with textiles, drawing and painting. This ability is evident in the nearly 90 works that are featured in the exhibition. Vacillating between two-dimensional surfaces to three-dimensional structures, his work explores “varying relationships between color, form, pattern and texture, balancing tensions of abstraction and figuration, chaos and control, absurdity and logic.”

O’Brien received his BA in Studio Art from Loyola University in Chicago, and his MFA in Fiber and Material Studies from the School of the Art Institute in Chicago. He has had several solo exhibitions in both Chicago and New York. His work is included in several private and public collections including The Cleveland Clinic in Ohio; Perez Art Museum in Miami; The Hammer Museum in Los Angeles; The Hara Museum of Art in Japan; and, the Art Institute of Chicago.

KMAC Museum reopened in July 2016 after an extensive, 9-month, $3 million renovation. In its 36th year, the museum was founded by then First Lady of Kentucky and former Miss America Phyllis George as a way to build interest in the state’s rich craft heritage, which led to a collection of American Folk Art from the region. Today, the museum continues its mission through its support and education of craft artists and its education to the public.

Admission is free to the museum through June 2017 thanks to a generous donation from Delta Dental of Kentucky’s Making Smiles Happen Charitable Giving Campaign. For more information, call 502.589.0102.