Biography
Kevin O'Brien (b. St Helens, Lancashire 1956) studied at North Staffordshire Polytechnic (1974-7) and Royal College of Art (1978-81). O'Brien held his first solo exhibition at the New Art Centre in 1983. Group exhibitions included at the Consort Gallery (1981); Castlefield Gallery, Manchester (1987); and Albertina Museum, Vienna (1993). Between September 1983 and March 1984 he was Artist-in-Residence at The National Gallery, at which time he was praised for figurative allegories. but soon after decided to withdraw from exhibiting for a while, during which time he developed his own iconographic language as seen in his solo show of Spanish Chapel Pictures at Art Space Gallery (1994). O’Brien became senior lecturer in painting at Leeds Metropolitan University.
