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Image

John O'Reilly

Large Studio 10-6-86

Description

Maker

John O&#039

Title

Large Studio 10-6-86

Year

1986

Medium

  • Polaroid photomontage

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Polaroid photomontage

Dimensions

Mat Window: 9.4 x 17.2 cm (3 11/16 x 6 3/4 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Sheet recto, signed and dated in pencil, LR: O'REILLY 10-6-86; mat verso, in pencil, LL: JOHN O'REILLY / LARGE STUDIO 10-6-86 / 6 3/4 X 3 5/8" / POLAROID MONTAGE; mat verso, in pencil, UL: SJM; mat verso, in pencil, UC: 17x13; mat verso, in pencil, C: 11 [circled]; mat verso, in pencil, LR: JR.45.

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of James Tellin

Object Number

2021.122.3

Type

  • Collage

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Performative Self-Portrait
May 13, 2023 – Nov 12, 2023

Label copy

John O’Reilly is perhaps best remembered for carefully constructed photographs that pay homage to artists he admired, such as Velázquez and Eakins. Created through an iterative process of shooting and reshooting with a Polaroid 100 camera and in conjunction with photomontage, both of these works present O’Reilly’s nude body, metaphorically laying bare his identity and coming to terms with his sexuality. He explained:

I lived a closeted life. I grew up in New Jersey and was never in the gay world. As a kid you know all about sexuality, and you know nothing. I hid from it. . . . But pictures became a key to coming to terms with my sexuality, to trying to find out what and who I am. They began as a psychotherapeutic examination. There are lots of disturbances in my work.

–Conor Moynihan, assistant curator of prints, drawings, and photographs


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Tombstone

John O'Reilly (American, 1930-2021 b. in New Jersey)
Large Studio 10-6-86, 1986
Polaroid photomontage
Mat Window: 9.4 x 17.2 cm (3 11/16 x 6 3/4 inches)
Gift of James Tellin 2021.122.3

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

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