Outdoor bronze installation at the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park

Five bronze works are being exhibited in a clearing of tall grass near a pond at the Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park. The three year presentation will be located adjacent to works by Bruce Nauman, Mark diSuvero, Charles Ginnever, Dan Peterman and Martin Puryear. The sculpture...

‘I Might Have Cast a Love Spell’ in New York Times

A third autobiographical note has been published in the Tiny Love Stories series. Casting My Love Spell A week before our first date, I wrote a list of everything I wanted in a partner and tucked it into my wallet. On our fifth anniversary, I told Ed...

Exhibitor at Staple + Stitch Art Book and Print Fair 2025

Will be selling shirts and pins as well as books and zines from Shadow Work Press at a booth for Staple + Stitch 2025. Staple + Stitch is an art book and print fair. A celebration and engagement with art, text, print, and paper hosted at...

New book: Ghosts Walk Differently

William J. O’Brien’s newest publication, Ghosts Walk Differently: A Lyrical Apocalypse in 100 Questions, was published by Shadow Work Press in August 2025.   This 80 page full color book moves between elegy and satire, posing one hundred haunting questions about survival, memory, and transformation in the...

Second Tiny Love Story published by New York Times

The New York Times has published a second very short story about adolescence, toughness, femininity and football in their Tiny Love Stories series. See the article here.     [gallery ids="3556"]...

Exhibition at Governors State University

William J. O'Brien: From Here to There   Nathan Manilow Sculpture Park and Visual Arts Gallery at Governor's State University will be hosting a wide-ranging exhibition of work in their gallery space in University Park, IL.   October 1 - November 14, 2025 Governor's State University 1 University Parkway, University Park,...

Writing featured on New York Times Tiny Love Stories

The New York Times published a 100 word story in their series Tiny Love Stories about being gay and broke in NYC the summer before 9/11. You can read it here.     [gallery ids="3540"]...

WOBshop open for the summer with new t-shirts

Four new t-shirt designs and a restock of the book Ceramic Heads are available for purchase at the web store.     [gallery ids="3520,3516,3517,3518,3519"]...

Work featured in City in a Garden exhibition at MCA Chicago

City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago   Jul 05, 2025 - May 31, 2026   City in a Garden: Queer Art and Activism in Chicago is an intergenerational group exhibition that highlights Chicago’s essential, yet often underacknowledged, role in the story of queer art and activism....

Mural unveiling May 22nd in downtown Hyde Park

Chicago Public Art Group and Special Service Area 61 Hyde Park has commissioned the studio to create a mural design for the 53rd and 55th street viaducts at Lake Park Avenue in Hyde Park. The Hyde Park viaduct panel restoration program features mural projects printed...