Born 1993 in London, UK

Lives and works in London, UK

Jack O’Brien’s work explores the interplay of material, personal experience, and cultural critique. His sculptures, often made from found and repurposed objects combined with consumer materials like shrink wrap, epoxy, and fabric, evoke a sense of precarity and tension, reflecting both physical and social fragility. By forcing rigid materials into uneasy confrontations and binding them in unexpected ways, O’Brien mirrors the complexities of human relationships and identity. His abstraction destabilizes fixed forms, creating works charged with nervous energy, as if on the verge of collapse. This precariousness becomes a metaphor for broader dynamics of identity, particularly within queer cultural histories, while his materials act as ‘eloquent texts’ that engage political and personal narratives.

O’Brien’s upcoming projects include the touring exhibition British Art Show 10: A Chorus of Strangers (2026-28) and the group exhibition Sculpture Beyond The Solid, Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw (2026). His work is currently on view in a group exhibition at LUMA Westbau, Zurich (June-September 2026). Jack O’Brien’s first institutional solo exhibition, Cue the Cue, was held at the Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover, Germany (2025).

His solo and duo exhibitions include Ordet, Milan (2025); Camden Art Centre, London (2024); Between Bridges, Berlin (2023); Sans Titre Invites, Paris (2023); Lockup International, London (2022); Polamagnetczne Gallery, Warsaw (2022) and Ginny on Frederick, London (2021).

Group exhibitions include Make Some Noice, Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Partenaires Particulaires, Fondation CAB Saint-Paul de Vence; Air de Repos (Breathwork), CAPC Bordeaux; Non-Specific Objects, Capitain Petzel, Berlin (2024); Support Structures, Gathering, London, (2023); Memory of Rib, N/A Gallery, Seoul (2022); Something is Burning, Kunsthalle Bratislava (2022) and An Insular Rococo, Hollybush Gardens, London (2022).

Jack O’Brien was the recipient of the Camden Art Center’s 2023 Emerging Artist Prize at Frieze. His work is included in the Pinault Collection, Paris; The Rubell Museum, Miami, FL; TANK Shanghai and The Perimeter, London.