looking with that of reading, decoding, and interpreting. O'Connor's large-scale drawings often contain abstract forms made from multi-colored fields of text and patterns which are partly derived from combining simple logical processes (such as alphabet codes) and partly from intuitive reactions, described as his "trademark hallucinatory style". These processes often reveal unlikely connections between seemingly disparate data often with humorous or absurdist results. Information used in O'Connor's work include conversations the artist has had with Cleverbot, charts on male pattern baldness, chess game patterns, sunspot fluctuations, temperature prediction error, the prophesies of Nostradamus, census reports, storytelling as transmutation, memory fallacies, paradox of the heap, the Linda Problem, key smash patterns, escalation of violence, conspiracy theories, Hollywood filmmaking narratives, consumer drug effects, social class cycles, theories of time perception, rhyming mutations / Mondegreens, etc.. Patterns that emerge from linking these disparate data are often a structural conduit for his unique logic and subsequent aesthetic. He fuses the information that he's investigating within the patterns and forms he draws as a means of collapsing the space between the generation of a thought, its gradual manifestation, and final conclusion. Butterflies O'Connor's recent series of 26 interconnected drawings are large, pictogram-like works that depict, through text and graphic images, the lifespan of a working class male as he encountered myriad obstacles, both real and imagined. These works reference Hollywood filmmaking, consumer drug effects, video game spaces, social class, popular music, dream imagery, theories of time perception, literary fiction, advertisement logos, etc. In a recent series of photographic collages, O'Connor fused close up NASA images of sunspots onto the surface of his face, creating, disturbing composite portraits that investigated the relationship between celestial patterns and those of the human being on Earth. Overall, many of O'Connor's recent works explore the moment when an individual's internal intentions and desires are affected, opposed, or concretely influenced by a more powerful external force. Small Works O'Connor also make faster, smaller scaled collages, sculptures, and self-portraits. The time discrepancy in this aspect of his studio practice is intentional and undergirds his exploration of the intersection points between the political, scientific, mathematical, linguistic, and personal. References External links Jeffrey Gibson's review in Artforum - https://www.artforum.com/print/reviews/201701/john-o-connor-65451 Smithsonian Archives of American Art - https://www.aaa.si.edu/blog/2015/01/artists-on-diaries-sunspot-diary Review Written by Charles Shultz Brooklyn Rail Whitney Museum Collection - http://collection.whitney.org/object/33716 Museum of Modern Art Collection - https://www.moma.org/collection/works/96839?locale=en 1972 births Living people American abstract artists 20th-century American