Michael James O'Brien

Michael James O’Brien (b. 1950s) is an American photographer and poet whose work spans portraiture, still life, commercial photography, and artistic collaboration. With a career marked by both visual and literary achievements, O’Brien is celebrated for his ability to capture identity, intimacy, and theatricality across a wide spectrum of subjects. His photography reflects a refined, narrative sensibility—often balancing elegance with subversion, classical technique with contemporary themes.

O’Brien earned his MFA from Yale University in the 1970s, where he studied under legendary photographer Walker Evans. This formative experience laid the foundation for his deep engagement with both photographic tradition and experimentation. He later served as associate professor of photography at Kenyon College in Ohio and taught at the New School in New York City during the mid-1980s. He is currently the Chair of the Photography Department at the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), where he continues to influence and mentor emerging artists.

In 1993, O’Brien began a significant collaboration with multimedia artist Matthew Barney, photographing Barney’s Drawing Restraint 7 and the acclaimed Cremaster series (1, 2, 4, and 5). O’Brien’s images served as a photographic parallel to Barney’s elaborate visual universe and were exhibited at the Musée d’Art Moderne in Paris in 2002 and the Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2003. His portrait of the British artist duo Gilbert & George is part of the permanent collection at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

O’Brien’s editorial and commercial work is equally expansive, with commissions from The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, The Financial Times, Elle Décor, Departures, L’Uomo Vogue, Travel & Leisure, and The New York Times. His advertising clients have included prestigious fashion and luxury brands such as Thierry Mugler, Polo Ralph Lauren, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Bergdorf Goodman. Across both commercial and personal projects, his photography reflects a striking sense of intimacy and theatricality—often amplifying themes of performance, gender fluidity, and cultural identity.

In addition to his visual work, O’Brien is an accomplished poet and longtime editor-at-large of the poetry periodical Verbal Abuse, founded in 1993. His landmark book of photographs, Girlfriend: Men, Women & Drag (Random House, 1999), captures the vibrant drag and queer performance scenes of the 1990s and remains a critical contribution to LGBTQ+ visual culture. In 2010, he served as Creative Director of Designers Against AIDS and co-edited Designers Against AIDS: The First Decade, published by Ludion.

O’Brien continues to exhibit internationally, with recent shows in the United States, Belgium, and China. His work remains rooted in portraiture’s power to illuminate the complexity of identity while celebrating the theatrical, political, and poetic dimensions of human expression.