John’s News

News

The DeLand Museum Acquires John A. O’Connor’s “Butterfly” as part of the permanent collection.
Find out more on John’s Art page.

The Kitchen and the Studio: A Memoir of Food and Art
by John A. and Mallory M. O’Connor

JOHN O’CONNOR IS FEATURED ARTIST AT ArtistsRegistry.com

WHITE LIES MATTER – VIRTUAL EXHIBIT

OCTOBER 1, 2020
Artist/art professor John A. O’Connor characterizes his series White Lies Matter: Decoding American Deceptionalism as “a history of American hypocrisy.” Using the image of the slate as a consistent base, White Lies Matter ranges across historical and contemporary America, touching down at flashpoints of inequality, misunderstanding, and conflict. See the Virtual Exhibit.

JOHN O’CONNORS WORK IS INCLUDED IN CROSS CONTEMPORARY PARTNERS INAUGURAL EXHIBITION

SEPTEMBER 30, 2020
Read more: crosscontemporarypartners.com
CROSS CONTEMPORARY PARTNERS INAUGURAL GROUP EXHIBITION PART II
Cross Contemporary Partners opens another new virtual art exhibition space dedicated to the digital representation of artwork on the internet. The Cross Contemporary Partners Inaugural Group Exhibition Part II presents nine established artists whose distinguished careers span decades. The artists: Sarah Hinckley, Bassmi Ibrahim, Anne Marchand, Stewart Nachmias, John A. O’Connor, Dellamarie Parrilli, Lee Saloutos,Susan Sommer, and Gail Hillow Watkins have all exhibited in museums and galleries throughout the United States.

JOHN’S WORK FEATURED IN AMERICAN ARTWORK 2020 CATALOG

OCTOBER 26, 2017
American Artwork is a curated, online gallery and an annual published review of new paintings, sculpture, jewelry, glass, ceramic, woodwork, photography and prints. Over the past fifteen years, the gallery has featured the work of over 300 emerging and mid-career artists.

John O’Connor’s is featured on page 84/85 in the 2020 edition. To view John’s work via online PDF viewer, please visit American Artwork and scroll to page #84.

To purchase the book, follow this link American Artwork 2018 Catalog.

WHITE LIES MATTER SERIES

JULY 11, 2016
Beginning in the early 1960s, John A. O’Connor, “the punning, painting, pedagogue” began a series of paintings, drawings, and works on paper that included satire, social criticism, and anti-mainstream commentary on a variety of issues. Taking his lead from artists like Hieronomus Bosch (The Garden of Earthly Delights, The Last Judgment, and The Haywein Triptych) William Hogarth (A Harlot’s Progress, A Rake’s Progress) and Francisco José de Goya y Lucientes (Los Disparates [The follies, The Proverbs, and/or The Dreams]; Los Disastres de la Guerra; and, especially The Black Paintings), O’Connor initiated a second side to his better-known work (Bay Area Figurative). Including word-plays made with stencils, irreverent dialog, and a take on the more serious works by Jasper Johns, O’Connor started to develop a group of themes and images that would recur throughout his career and subsequently lead to the current series, White Lies Matter.

REGION 4.1.0 AT SANTA FE COLLEGE

FEBRUARY 23, 2016

Can art play an important role in promoting a call to action by educating the public and raising awareness? We believe that Region4: Transformation Through Imagination, an exhibition organized in 2012 by oconnorartLLC and the Superfund Art Project did just that.
The current exhibition, Region4.1.0: Remediation, is a report card on the progress that has been made and the problems that remain to be addressed. We haven’t forgotten what’s at stake and wish to remind the citizens of our community that to get results we have to educate ourselves and take appropriate action to protect our health and safety and to insure the sustainability of our homes, our neighborhoods, and the natural resources that we enjoy.

ARTIST-NATURALISTS IN FLORIDA: THEN AND NOW

NOVEMBER 2, 2015             

Mallory has organized a new art exhibition to celebrate the re-opening of The Doris Bardon Community Cultural Center in Gainesville. The exhibit, “Artist-Naturalists in Florida: Then and Now,” includes the work of 22 contemporary Florida artists as well as prints by early artist-naturalists such as William Bartram and John James Audubon. 

JOHN AND MALLORY ATTEND THE DEDICATION OF THE GARY R. LIBBY GALLERY AT UF

OCTOBER 26, 2015
Mallory and John were among hundreds of UF College of the Arts alumni, supporters and longtime friends of the college and of UF alumnus Gary R. Libby gathered at the School of Art + Art History on Sept. 18, 2015 for the dedication of the Gary R. Libby Gallery. John was honored as a  member of the founding board of the Gallery Guild Art Society. 

Previously known as Focus Gallery, the Gary R. Libby Gallery is one of the school’s three on-campus art galleries. The 850-square-foot gallery is located adjacent to the lobby of the School of Art + Art History’s Fine Art Building C and presents student-curated exhibitions as well as a range of other curated exhibitions designed to stimulate interest in broad areas within the arts.

JOHN’S INTERVIEW ON UF LOOP E-NEWSLETTER

AUGUST 5, 2015
Take a look at an interview with John at UF College Of Arts.

ARTIST-NATURALISTS IN FLORIDA: THEN AND NOW

JULY 14, 2015
A Wildlife Art Exhibition and Related Programs Oct. 30 – December 11, 2015 The Doris Bardon Community Cultural Center. The upcoming year will be a very exciting time for friends of John and William Bartram because 2015 is the 250th anniversary of their first visit to Georgia and Florida.

INSTALLATION IMAGES OF THE BLACKBOARD VARIATIONS

JULY 12, 2015

O’CONNOR EXHIBITION AT THE NEWS-JOURNAL CENTER, JUNE-15 – SEPTEMBER 2

JUNE 21, 2015
The News-Journal Center is hosting a summer-long exhibit of paintings by Gainesville artist John A. O’Connor. A University of Florida faculty member for thirty-six years before his retirement in 2005, O’Connor has had thirty-six solo exhibitions of his work, has been included in over 200 group shows and is represented in public and private collections.

CHALKBOARD SERIES

JUNE 14, 2015
History Repeats Itself in Chalkboard Series John O’Connor continues to work on his “Chalkboard Series” on the subject of history repeating itself. John’s most recent work in the series, “MD/WCW,” is based on the work of historic artist Marcel Duchamp. Another work “The Fountain” was recently shown in Quest for the Fountain of Youth.

ARTIST’S RETROSPECTIVE AT THRASHER-HORNE

JUNE 14, 2015
John A. O’Connor’s Art Work Selected for the Florida Artist’s Retrospective at the Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts in Orange Park, Florida. John O’Connor is one of twenty-four Florida artists selected to participate in the Florida Artists Retrospective Exhibit that will be on display at the Lee Adams Florida Artists Gallery at the Thrasher-Horne Center for the Arts, Orange Park, beginning February 14, 2014. The exhibition is part of the tenth anniversary celebration of the Thrasher-Horne Center. The Lee Adams Gallery, located in the Mary Ward Huntley Wing, has gained a regional reputation for its dedication to exhibiting art created by Florida’s gifted artists. Named in memory for Lee Adams, the gallery is a living testament and showplace for the diverse talent and creativity of Florida artists.

O’CONNOR’S WORK INCLUDED IN AMERICAN ART COLLECTOR

JUNE 14, 2015
American Art Collector John O’Connor’s piece MD/WTW, has been published in the October edition of American Art Collector. American Art Collector is an annual fine art and crafts book published in October and sent to galleries, art consultants, and designers.

THE BLACKBOARD VARIATIONS

JUNE 14, 2015
The Blackboard Variations, an exhibition of paintings by artist John A. O’Connor, on display at the News-Journal Center, Daytona Beach, Florida, June 15-September 2, 2015 The News-Journal Center hosted a summer-long exhibit of paintings by Gainesville artist John A. O’Connor.

JOHN O’CONNOR’S PAINTINGS FEATURED IN RED DOT ART FAIR, MIAMI

MAY 30, 2015
Three paintings by Gainesville artist John O’Connor have been selected for inclusion in the Red Dot Art Fair in Miami, Florida. Red Dot is one of the art fairs held in conjunction with Art Basel, an art venue where leading international galleries show work from masters of Modern and contemporary art.

PARTNERS IN ART & HISTORY

NOVEMBER 17, 2013

As they worked on an art exhibit commemorating the 500th anniversary of Ponce de Leon’s arrival in Florida, husband-and-wife team John and Mallory O’Connor have found their own fountain of youth of sorts: sharing their passion for art and art history with each other — and the public.

After Mallory stepped down as a professor and gallery curator at Santa Fe College in 2005, she and John, an artist and art professor emeritus at UF, pooled their talents into an art consulting business, O’Connor Art, LLC. Together, they offer such services as organizing and curating exhibits, art gallery administration, and helping artists market their works. John O’Connor also continues to work as a painter and printmaker. His art has been part of more than 200 exhibitions in the United States and Europe – including their current joint venture, “The Quest for the Fountain of Youth in Florida History, Mythology, and Art,” on display now through June 22 at the Thomas Center Gallery.

QUEST FOR THE FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH AND FLORIDA’S HISTORY, MYTHOLOGY AND ART

OCTOBER 27, 2013
A Traveling Version of the Exhibit
Organized by oconnorartLLC
For information contact: Mallory O’Connor, Exhibition Curator

In 2013, Florida reached a significant milestone unlike any other in the history of the United States—the 500th anniversary of the time that began when Juan Ponce de León and his crew walked ashore on Florida’s east coast and named it La Florida. To celebrate the Quincentennial of the arrival Ponce de León and the beginning of the European settlement of the region, the Gainesville Department of Parks, Recreation and Cultural Affairs and the Doris Bardon Community Cultural Center hosted The Quest for the Fountain of Youth in Florida History, Mythology and Art, an art exhibit organized by oconnorartLLC, curated by Mallory O’Connor and jointly hosted by the Thomas Center Galleries and the Doris Bardon Community Cultural Center. The joint exhibitions were on display from March through June in Gainesville. The exhibition and related programs are funded by a grant from the Florida Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs (DCA) and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture and are managed by oconnorartLLC, a Gainesville-based art consulting business.

REGION4: TRANSFORMATION THROUGH IMAGINATION

JANUARY 6, 2012

Region4: Transformation Through Imagination includes works by twenty artists that seek to transform the raw reality of the Cabot/Koppers Superfund site into images that suggest both the history of the problem and the possibilities for restoration and transformation. The artists used scientific data from the site to create their art works, often forming partnerships with scientists who served as consultants on the projects. The artists also worked to portray the concerns, hopes, beliefs and experiences of the people whose lives have been affected by the site over the past thirty years. The goal for the exhibition is not to confront and blame, but to inform and explore, and to offer strategies for healing the community and the land.

The Region4 exhibition addresses four topics of concern: documentation (the history of the site and how it got that way), transformation (the cleanup process), restoration (restoring the site to ecological health and thus restoring the health of the larger community) and commemoration (a plan for a permanent exhibit/art work that will serve as a reminder of what happened and how the problem was addressed and rectified). Through the exhibition and related programs the public will learn about the long struggle to remediate the Cabot-Koppers Superfund site and how important this remediation is to the health and wellbeing of our community.

This exhibit was funded by a grant from the State of Florida Division of Cultural Affairs, organized by the Superfund Art Project (SAP), a creative public outreach component of the Project Gainesville’s Citizens group, and managed by oconnorartLLC, a Gainesville-based art consulting agency.