The son of a preacher man and grandson of a medium, Matthew J. O’Brien (thievesbreakin) is a Billings, MT-based contemporary artist and musician. Using paint, his words, video and sound predominately, O’Brien has, over the last two decades, shared his work with many throughout the northwestern United States. His work has been showcased in various mediums: gallery, museum, pop-up performance, festival, and zine. Classically trained in traditional gesso production, egg tempera painting, piano and polyphonic choral performance, O’Brien takes as influence the minds of Gibran, Abloh, Watts and Herzog; the Fluxus art movement, Nicolas Jaar, Mark Linkous, and Efrim Menuck in sound; Stanley Donwood, eastern Orthodox iconography, Harmony Korine, street art, and New York abstract expressionism in the graphic arts. Through its vulnerability and paradoxical nature, the art produced serves to both broaden horizons and ultimately unite.
http://waste-division.org/dreyfest-2019-interviews/julia-louis-dreyfest-interviews-matthew-obrien-thievesbreakin
https://kirks-grocery.myshopify.com/collections/matthew-o-brien
https://soundcloud.com/thievesbreakin