John O'Reilly
Working primarily in photomontage, John O'Reilly transforms diverse images—ranging from intimate family photographs and self-portraits to reproductions of the work of art-historical masters like Vermeer and Caravaggio to clippings from pornographic magazines—into intricate, meditative tableaux that reflect on sexuality, identity, and desire. Seamlessly combining these fragments by hand, the artist merges seemingly incongruous material—for instance, one series incorporates photographs of male wrestlers with Old Master paintings of religious and mythological scenes—into evocative compositions, noting: "I love the clash of pornography with the righteousness of a beautiful masterpiece." Often focusing on his cultural heroes, O'Reilly has created series dedicated to figures such as Marsden Hartley, Hart Crane, and Henry James, artists who were both formally innovative and who struggled with their sexuality.
O'Reilly worked privately in his studio for several decades, sharing his work primarily with family and friends, but entered the public eye after his photomontages were selected for the 1995 Whitney Biennial by curator Klaus Kertess. In addition to the Biennial, his work has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Israel Museum, among other venues.
Working primarily in photomontage, John O'Reilly transforms diverse images—ranging from intimate family photographs and self-portraits to reproductions of the work of art-historical masters like Vermeer and Caravaggio to clippings from pornographic magazines—into intricate, meditative tableaux that reflect on sexuality, identity, and desire. Seamlessly combining these fragments by hand, the artist merges seemingly incongruous material—for instance, one series incorporates photographs of male wrestlers with Old Master paintings of religious and mythological scenes—into evocative compositions, noting: "I love the clash of pornography with the righteousness of a beautiful masterpiece." Often focusing on his cultural heroes, O'Reilly has created series dedicated to figures such as Marsden Hartley, Hart Crane, and Henry James, artists who were both formally innovative and who struggled with their sexuality.
O'Reilly worked privately in his studio for several decades, sharing his work primarily with family and friends, but entered the public eye after his photomontages were selected for the 1995 Whitney Biennial by curator Klaus Kertess. In addition to the Biennial, his work has been included in exhibitions at the Museum of Modern Art, the Museum of Fine Arts Boston, and the Israel Museum, among other venues.
Click here to read our interview with John O'Reilly.
BFA, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 1952
Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, MA
Hood Art Museum, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH
International House of Photography, Hamburg, Germany
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
New York Public Library, New York, NY
Art Museum Princeton University, Princeton, NJ
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY
William Benton Museum of Art, University of Connecticut, Storrs, CT
Howard Yezerski Gallery, Boston, MA
Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York, NY
Hosfelt Gallery, San francisco, CA