Robyn O’Neil’s surreal graphite drawings range from intimate landscapes to large-scale, multi-panel works rich in detail and symbolism. Her drawings reference dark personal narratives and art historical allusions, dealing with themes of personal memory and self-identity. Parallel to her highly recognized drawings, O’Neil has quietly produced a superb body of smaller, more abstract landscapes that evoke the spirit of artists like Albert Pinkam Ryder and Forrest Bess. In The Nemesis Hypothesis, O’Neil pushes the physical nature of her materials and explores their expressive capabilities into a realm of pure abstraction.
Robyn O'Neil was born in Omaha, Nebraska and currently lives and works in Los Angeles. She studied at the University of Chicago, Texas A&M University-Commerce, and Kings College, London, England. Selected solo exhibitions include Inman Gallery, Houston, TX; Western Exhibitions, Chicago, IL; Inglett Gallery, New York, NY; Talley Dunn Gallery, Dallas, TX and was included in the 2004 Whitney Biennial. She is the recipient of numerous grants and awards, including a Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant, an Artadia grant, and the Hunting Art Prize. Her work is included in the collections of the Whitney Museum of American Art, NY; The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, PA; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth, Fort Worth Texas; The Dallas Museum of Art, Dallas Texas; The Kemper Museum, Kansas City, Missouri; and The Museum of Art, Road Island School of Design, Providence, RI.