Implosion Explosion

74 x 73 inches, graphite and colored pencil on shaped paper

John Yau - "Consider 'Implosion or Explosion', a colored pencil and collage on a shaped piece of paper. It looks like a combination of a mandala, a stylized jellyfish, with its tentacles fanning out, and a cartoon explosion. According to the artist, the inspiration for the drawing was the “weight loss industry (commercial drugs and popular diet books) and the actual physical gain or loss of measurable weight in an individual.' For a moment the purpose of the drawing makes sense, but then the logic of it dissolves, which– for this viewer –doesn’t matter. The drawing is the astonishing residue of O’Connor’s research. Don’t we want to know if one of the diets cited in his drawing works? We know at least one must work at some level, don’t we? But does it do what it promises? O’Connor has a knack for tapping into the reservoir of curiosity and disbelief that – at one point or another – possesses us all." - Catalog Essay, 2013