Kelly O'Connor

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Kelly O’Connor addresses central themes that include gender, feminism and family. Her work combines memory, fantasy and fiction, often drawing from Western folklore and the use of iconic characters. In her collage works, O’Connor juxtaposes candy-colored surfaces that are almost sickly sweet with papers sampled from vintage record covers. The appropriated images are drawn from films, advertising and magazines, as well as amusement park and travel memorabilia, from the 1950's and 1960's, a period rich in American stereotypes. Much of O’Connor’s work is about exposing the realities behind the public façades of these icons as well as the society that they represent.

Kelly O'Connor studied Visual Arts at the University of Texas at Austin where she received a BFA in Studio Art in 2005. O'Connor has exhibited at the San Antonio Museum of Art and the McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, Women and Their Work in Austin and the Blaffer Museum in Houston. Her work has been included in the Texas Biennial and New American Paintings in 2013.

Kelly O'Connor; Vertigo, 2023; digitally printed and manipulated image, collage; 42 x 53 1/2 inches
Kelly O'Connor; Plunge Pool (Violet Aura, Palm Springs, CA), 2023; collage; 30 x 43 1/2 inches
Kelly O'Connor; Garden of Earthely Delights, 2023; collage; 42 1/2 x 58 inches
Kelly O'Connor; Plunge Pool (Castle Geyser), 2022; mixed media collage; 35 x 51 inches
Kelly O'Connor; Plunge Pool (Hollywood Forever), 2022; mixed media collage; 39 x 39 inches
Kelly O'Connor; Plunge Pool (Emerald Spring), 2022; mixed media collage; 45 x 69 1/2 inches
Kelly O'Connor; Plunge Pool (Coping), 2022; mixed media collage; 27 x 39 inches
Kelly O'Connor; A Dream of You and Me, 2020; digitally printed image with collage; 43 x 68 inches
Kelly O'Connor; Eternal One, 2020; digitally printed image with collage; 22 x 33 in.
Kelly O'Connor; Mirror Mirror, 2018; digitally printed image on archival paper, found paper, vintage record cover paper; 62 3/4 x 45 34 in.
Kelly O'Connor; Bottom of the Pool (Victoria, TX), 2018; digitally printed image on archival paper, found paper, vintage record cover paper; 45 1/2 x 69 1/2 in.
Kelly O'Connor; Calcified Curtain, 2016; digitally printed image with collage; 38 x 48 1/2 in.