Healing Machines now on view at THE COLLECTION at Fashion Outlets of Chicago
THE COLLECTION: WHERE ART MEETS FASHION
Healing Machines by William J. O’Brien
Dec 12, 2023 – June 1, 2024
Healing Machines, a New Series by Chicago Artist William J. O’Brien, is Now on View in THE COLLECTION’s Three Rotating Exhibition Cases
Created exclusively for Fashion Outlets of Chicago, artist William J. O’Brien’s Healing Machines encompasses works in THE COLLECTION’s rotating exhibition and features a wide range of collaged and hand-drawn elemental sculptures that come together to form moveable chandeliers and lamps. Titled Zoetrope, Amethyst & Plum Galaxy and Trinkets, Knickknacks & Whatnots, the installations will fill THE COLLECTION’s three rotating cases located throughout Level Two of the shopping center. The intention of these pieces is to create temporary and moveable imagery for the mall audience that explores color, pattern, light, shadows and luminance.
A Chicago-based artist, O’Brien works in multiple media including drawing, painting, ceramic, metal sculpture, installation and assemblage. Inspired by modernism and the history of material usage of Outsider art, O’Brien’s multidisciplinary practice is a search for identity and genuine expression through material and process.
Healing Machines will be on view at Fashion Outlets of Chicago through June 1, 2024. For more information on THE COLLECTION and Fashion Outlets of Chicago please visit www.fashionoutletsofchicago.com/thecollection.
About William J. O’Brien
Chicago-based artist William J. O’Brien works in multiple media: drawing, painting, ceramic, metal sculpture, installation, and assemblage. Inspired by Modernism, as well as the history of material usage of Outsider Art, O’Brien’s multidisciplinary practice is a search for identity and genuine expression through material and process. His prolific output in these various media offers a visual profusion of color, pattern, and exuberant excess. O’Brien has held solo exhibitions at the Madison Museum of Contemporary Art; Renaissance Society, Chicago; KMAC Museum, Louisville; MAD Museum, NYC; Kunstinstituut Melly, Rotterdam; and the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, among others. In 2014 he had his first major museum survey at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago curated by Naomi Beckwith. He has held residencies at the Vermont Studio Center and the U-Cross Foundation. O’Brien has received awards from the Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation and Artadia. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Cleveland Clinic, New York Presbyterian Hospital, Miami Art Museum, Pérez Art Museum, Hammer Museum, Hara Museum of Contemporary Art, and The Art Institute of Chicago. O’Brien is also Professor of Ceramics at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
About THE COLLECTION: Where Art Meets Fashion
THE COLLECTION: Where Art Meets Fashion is a multifaceted contemporary art program located within Macerich’s Fashion Outlets of Chicago. Components of THE COLLECTION include 22 permanent commissions and a rotating exhibition series located throughout the common area of the shopping center. The public art program has invested in works by Daniel Arsham, Derrick Adams, Carlos Rolón Dzine, Jen Stark, Matthew Hoffman, and many more. THE COLLECTION’s rotating exhibitions feature work by a variety of artists displayed in glass cases located throughout Level Two of the shopping center. For more information, visit www.fashionoutletsofchicago.com/TheCollection.
About Fashion Outlets of Chicago
Fashion Outlets of Chicago is an award-winning 530,000 square-foot, two-level indoor shopping center that is home to more than 130 designer outlets, an impressive contemporary art collection known as THE COLLECTION and high-end amenities. The one-of-a-kind upscale outlet property that redefines and elevates the outlet shopping experience, is located at 5220 Fashion Outlets Way in Rosemont –minutes from O’Hare International Airport and Chicagoland’s major highways. For more information, visit www.fashionoutletsofchicago.com.