A remarkable assortment of found objects gather perilously on a carpeted pedestal, clad crudely with clays, emulsions, and other hardened substances. Sinews of twine are strung with cobwebs of glue, marked haphazardly throughout with aerosol paints in vibrant pink. At this centre is a a group of ceramic and rubber dolls, marked extensively with paints and glue and other material. The snapped ends of wax candles hang from strands of cotton wicks, and cuttings of thick felt are affixed with to the mass with safety pins. The grouping is intermittently adorned with further identifiable items, including electrical wires, steel hardware,  nails, and fragmented paintbrushes, comprising only a part of the extensive and indeterminate mixed media used by O’Brien. The sculpture takes its name from the practise of performing medical operations on live animals for scientific research, a macabre evocation which might suggest the visual dissection required of the viewer. The work formerly belonged to the permanent collection of the Saatchi Gallery, London, and formed a central component of the Saatchi 2010 exhibition, Shape Of Things To Come: New Sculpture. It comes recently from the private collection of a leading British collector of contemporary art.

This highly distinctive work subverts the conventions of sculpture to challenge art historical archetypes and the expectations of viewership. O’Brien sends up formal curatorial modes by playfully inverting the pedestal as an enduring symbol of artistic distinction. The defaced plinth supports a deeply abstracted and materially unconventional creation, a mess of materials and forms elevated with considerable irony. The work encourages the viewer to re-examine notions of order and structure, presentation and convention, to arrive at their own understanding of artistic meaning and merit. The carefully sculpted nature of such unconventional media demonstrates the possibility for order amongst chaos, and for meaning to derive from the subjectivity of the creation process.

William J. O’Brien was born in Eastlake, Ohio, in 1975. Living and working in Chicago, he received his MFA from the Art Institute of Chicago in 2005. As a young gay man, O’Brien resolved feelings of isolation through artistic creation, a process of self-discovery which no doubt informed the unconventional perspective typical of his works. O’Brien is known for his interdisciplinary, improvisational approach, often exploring creation and expression through material experimentation. Solo exhibitions have included the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2014). His works held in public collections include the Art Institute of Chicago, Miami Art Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago), and the Hara Museum of Contemporary Art (Japan).