John O’Reilly constructs intimate and beautiful photographic montages. Using a Polaroid camera, he photographs scenes set up in his studio, his own body, or familiar surroundings. He also rephotographs images from magazines, history books, gay porn, and other sources. He then cuts and pastes these various images into collages in which figures and objects morph into each other amidst fragmented backgrounds. These images are put together with the same sort of psychological glue as our dreams. History and fantasy intertwine and become indistinguishable. The past, present and future co-exist. Unlikely juxtapositions are inexplicably logical and uncannily apt.
-
John O'ReillyAbout Hartley Mourning - 1914, 1988polaroid montage3 5/8 x 8 3/8 in
9.2 x 21.3 cm -
John O'ReillyCircean Study #2, 1998polaroid montage8 1/4 x 7 3/8 in
20.8 x 18.6 cm -
John O'ReillyHolding a Mask, 2014paper collage16 x 20 in
40.6 x 50.8 cm -
John O'ReillyDurer I, 1990polaroid montage3 3/4 x 10 in
9.5 x 25.4 cm -
John O'ReillyTo G.M. Hopkins, 2012paper montage10 1/2 x 7 3/8 inches/26.7 x 18.7 cm
-
John O'ReillyStudio Screen, 1988polaroid montage3 3/4 x 5 7/8 inches/9.5 x 14.9 cm
-
John O'ReillyWrestlers 9-1-08, 2008halftone, color coupler print7 1/2 x 5 7/8 inches/19.1 x 14.9 cm
-
John O'ReillyA Classic Projection, 1989polaroid montage3 3/4 x 8 5/8 inches
9.5 x 21.9 cm -
John O'ReillyBacchians, 1988/02polaroid montage3 3/4 x 9 3/8 in
9.5 x 23.8 cm -
John O'ReillyWrestlers 12-3-08, 2008halftone, color coupler print6 3/8 x 9 1/8 inches/16 x 23 cm
-
John O'ReillyBefore 3 Syndics, 1989collage3 3/4 x 8 1/8 inches/9.5 x 20.6 cm
-
John O'ReillyDada Kindergraphs, 1993polaroid and silver print photo montage7 3/4 x 15 in
19.7 x 38.1 cm -
John O'ReillyCourting Cupid, 1989collage3 1/2 x 6 5/8 inches/8.9 x 16.8 cm
-
John O'ReillyDark Horse 11.30.15, 2015montage18 x 14 inches/45.7 x 35.6 cm
-
John O'ReillyDouble in Marble, 1988polaroid montage3 3/4 x 8 1/4 in
9.5 x 21 cm -
John O'ReillyFrench Greek Youth 1.1.16, 2016montage20 x 15 in
50.8 x 38.1 cm -
John O'ReillyIn a Forest, 2011paper, photocollage9 1/4 x 13 5/8 inches/23.4 x 34.6 cm
-
John O'ReillyItalian Mirror 11.2.15, 2016montage18 x 16 in
45.7 x 40.6 cm -
John O'ReillyMy Constellations-Feet, 1972casein and paper9 x 7 1/2 inches/22.9 x 19.1 cm
-
John O'ReillyNight Dance 8.10.14, 2014paper montage17 x 14 inches/43.2 x 35.6 cm
-
John O'ReillyNijinsky, 1977halftone montage9 1/8 x 5 5/8 inches/23.2 x 14.3 cm
-
John O'ReillyOccupied Territory #15 Traub (First Version), 1995polaroid montage3 3/4 x 4 7/8 inches/9.4 x 12.4 cm
-
John O'ReillyOn a Spanish Cross 7.04.88, 1988polaroid montage5 5/8 x 2 7/8 inches/14.3 x 7.3 cm
-
John O'ReillyWrestlers 12-16-08, 2008halftone, color coupler print5 13/16 x 3 9/16 in
14.8 x 9 cm
12 x 14 inches framed -
John O'ReillyPail 10.12.17, 2017paper, pencil, crayon, half-tone montage20 x 17 inches/50.8 x 43.2 cm
-
John O'ReillyStill-Life Music, 2014paper collage18 x 22 inches/45.7 x 55.9 cm
-
John O'ReillyWar Series #29, 1991polaroid montage9 x 12 inches/22.9 x 30.5 cm
-
John O'ReillyWoman with the Guitar, 1982paper collage7 1/2 x 9 3/8 inches
-
John O'ReillyWounded Child, 1991polaroid montage5 7/8 x 9 3/8 inches/14.9 x 23.8 cm
-
John O'ReillyWrestlers 12-4-08, 2008halftone, color coupler print7 x 9 1/2 inches/17.8 x 24 cm
-
Where We Are
23 Oct - 24 Nov 2021In a group exhibition marking this moment in history (and celebrating the 25th anniversary of Hosfelt Gallery) the work of 34 artists is employed to reflect on the zeitgeist of...Read more -
BETWEEN THEM
An Installation Composed of Drawings 13 Jul - 17 Aug 2019Todd Hosfelt combines approximately 200 drawings in an installation designed to reveal thematic and conceptual relationships across time and place. In drawings spanning the 16th to 21st centuries, from European...Read more -
Frankenstein’s Birthday Party
23 Jun - 11 Aug 20182018 is the bicentennial of Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley’s novel, Frankenstein; or, The Modern Prometheus. Why does a 200-year-old ghost story continue to feel so relevant? It’s important to remember that...Read more -
Mirror Mirror
8 Jul - 12 Aug 2017The first mirror — likely a pool of still water — allowed humans to see themselves as others did. Later came polished surfaces — copper, bronze, silver, pyrite, even stone...Read more -
20th Anniversary Exhibition
Banerjee, Campbell, Crotty, DeFeo, Hawkinson, Higgins, Kürten, Lukas, Maggi, O'Reilly, Ouadahi, Piccinini, Porter, Pwerle, Rath, Rodriguez, Schoultz, Wiley, Basquiat, Cave, Hansen, Ruscha, Sikander, and Wilke. 9 Sep - 8 Oct 2016Hosfelt Gallery celebrates its 20th anniversary with an exhibition exploring what makes an artwork significant and lasting, and the qualities that distinguish the most innovative artists of our era. This...Read more -
Holding It Together: Collage, Montage, Assemblage
12 Jul - 16 Aug 2014RINA BANERJEE, JAY DEFEO, TIM HAWKINSON, EMIL LUKAS, JOHN O'REILLY, PATRICIA PICCININI, LILIANA PORTER, ALAN RATH, ANDREW SCHOULTZ, WILLIAM T. WILEY, BRUCE CONNER, JEAN CONNER, JOHN ASHBERY, JOE BRAINARD, SARAH...Read more -
Look Both Ways
Banerjee, Campbell, Crotty, Danziger, DeFeo, Faruqee, Phungrasamee Fein, Haeckel, Hawkinson, Lukas, Maggi, O'Reilly, Ouadahi, Porter, Pwerle, Rath 8 Sep - 6 Oct 2012Hosfelt Gallery will inaugurate its new San Francisco venue with the group exhibition, Look Both Ways, opening at 260 Utah Street (at 16th Street) on September 8, 2012. Both a...Read more -
SEMI-PERMEABLE
Julie W. Chang, Jay DeFeo, Jutta Haeckel, Tim Hawkinson, Stefan Kürten, Crystal Liu, Emil Lukas, John O'Reilly, Driss Ouadahi, Janine Antoni, Luka Fineisen, Baseera Khan, Byron Kim, Naomie Kremer, Shahzia Sikander 28 Jun - 17 Aug 2012Hosfelt Gallery, New York Hosfelt Gallery’s summer group exhibition addresses the porous nature of identity and reality. Every living organism is encased by a semi-permeable boundary. This delicate, thin layer...Read more -
TIME FLIES
Jim Campbell, Julie W Chang, Anoka Faruqee, Andrea Higgins, Stefan Kürten, Michael Light, Crystal Liu, Marco Maggi, John O'Reilly, Liliana Porter, Gideon Rubin, John Andrews, Nelleke Beltjens, Jonathan Brand, Anthony Discenza, Alfredo Jar 9 Jul - 13 Aug 2011Celebrating the artists and exhibitions of the past 12 years at our San Francisco location, Time Flies explores permutations of the experience of time, including memory and nostalgia; disruptions and...Read more -
John O'Reilly
Montages from 2008-2011 2 Apr - 14 May 2011In his seventh solo exhibition at Hosfelt Gallery, 81-year-old, Boston area artist John O’Reilly moves away from the black and white work that he has been making for the past...Read more -
SUMMER READING: Artists Interpret Literature
Blackwell, Campbell, Chang, Dill, Grubin, Hicks, Higgins, O'Reilly, Rodriguez, Ramirez Jonas, Porter, Tiscornia 21 Jun - 9 Aug 2008The emphasis of this exhibition is not on illustration, but rather a conceptual response to, or interpretations of, stories, characters and texts. Although Jim Campbell has never actually read the...Read more -
John O'Reilly
John O'Reilly 9 Feb - 22 Mar 2008For the past 40 years, Boston area artist John O’Reilly has constructed complex and intimate photographic “montages.” Using a Polaroid camera, he re-photographs images from art history, found photographic albums...Read more -
Book
Crotty, Light, O'Reilly, Porter, Callan, Di Mare, Dopp, Felzmann, Hunt, Lewitt, Suarez Londono, Ruscha, Sikander, Spector, Tiscornia 28 Jan - 25 Feb 2006The history of books and bookmaking is extensive, from sacred objects of veneration to downloadable printouts, but artists’ books are a special circumstance. This exhibition explores what the book can...Read more -
M Theory
Kürten, Liu, O'Reilly, Porter, Colosky, Diener, Gutierrez, Hsu, Mayer, Ortbal, Ross, Young Sim 15 Oct - 23 Nov 2005The most revolutionary theory in physics today is M Theory. It postulates, among other things, that the universe consists not of three or four dimensions, but rather eleven. And in...Read more -
John O'Reilly
Still Life 12 Mar - 23 Apr 2005John O’Reilly’s new photo montages are little Wonderland worlds unto themselves. Their extreme horizontal format creates the sense of a journey, from the familiar and safe to the chaotic and...Read more -
John O'Reilly
The Orpheus Suite 13 Dec 2003 - 31 Jan 2004Boston area artist John O’Reilly has been creating “photo-montages” using re-photographed images from art history and gay pornography, and photographs of himself and studio dioramas, for the past 40 years....Read more -
PAPER
Nicole Phungrasamee Fein, Michael Light, Marco Maggi, John O'Reilly, Kirsten Bahrs Janssen, Jacob El Hanani, Lukas Felzmann, Ron Griffin, Jill Lear, Wes Mills, Mark Sheinkman 19 Jul - 16 Aug 2003Paper is all new work made on paper, with paper or about paper by artists Kirsten Bahrs Janssen, Jacob El Hanani, Nicole Fein, Lukas Felzmann, Ron Griffin, Jill Lear, Michael...Read more -
John O'Reilly
The Nijinsky Series 3 Sep - 12 Oct 2002John O’Reilly has been making photo-montages for over 30 years from his home in Worcester, Massachusetts. Using a Polaroid camera, he photographs scenes set up in his studio and his...Read more -
New Work: Contemporary Figuration
Campbell, Higgins, O'Reilly, Porter, Barnes, Chalmers, Dijkstra, Discenza, Dumas, Jaar, Linder, McCarthy, Neshat, Raff 17 Mar - 19 May 2001The third in a series of thematic exhibitions investigating the current state of a particular style, subject, or medium in contemporary art, this show brings together work by a group...Read more -
John O'Reilly
Tears 30 May - 8 Jul 2000For more than twenty-five years, John O’Reilly has montaged re-photographed images taken from art history books and pornography into beautiful and haunting narratives that manipulate space and time. His most...Read more -
New Space/New Work
Danziger, O'Reilly, Barnes, Berry, El Hanani, Grffin, Jaar, McCarthy, Meyers, Ortins, Sikander, Wegner 20 Mar - 17 Aug 1999Hosfelt Gallery is pleased to announce the opening of a new, three-gallery, 5,000 square foot exhibition space designed by noted San Francisco architect Anne Fougeron. The gallery is located at...Read more -
John O'Reilly
pastpresent 21 Feb - 28 Mar 1998For more than twenty years, Boston artist John O’Reilly has constructed intimate and beautiful black and white photographic collages. Using found pictures from sources such as gay porn, his family...Read more
-
The Boston Globe on John O'Reilly
Jackson Davidow, Boston Globe, March 7, 2023 -
‘I Like Drawings”: A Conversation with Todd Hosfelt
Justin Manley, SquareCylinder, August 5, 2019 -
Best of 2018
David M. Roth, Squarecylinder, December 22, 2018 -
Frankenstein’s Birthday Party @ Hosfelt
Justin Manley, Squarecylinder, July 20, 2018 -
Summer exhibition at Hosfelt Gallery a monstrous affair
Charles Desmarais, San Francisco Chronicle, July 6, 2018 -
Japanese prints evoke history, 'Polaroid montages' evoke magic
Kenneth Baker, San Francisco Chronicle, March 26, 2005
-
HG Magazine Issue no. 37
Judith Belzer & Birgit Jensen exhibitions open, Publications, Museum Exhibitions March 17, 2022Opening March 26, 2022: Birgit Jensen: Enacting Arcadia Judith Belzer: Where We Stand Artwork Explained: Jay DeFeo Recent Publication: Liliana Porter Museum ExhibitionsRead more -
‘I Like Drawings”: A Conversation with Todd Hosfelt
Squarecylinder August 5, 2019Drawing, as Hosfelt has envisioned it, appears to have the structure of a decentralized network, patterned through endlessly overlapping family resemblances without any single center...Read more