In this month’s edition of ArtGrams, we’re highlighting your creative shots of Jill O’Bryan’s one billion breaths in a lifetime. Hear from the artist in this video taken during installation.
Tag Archives: Jill OBryan
Art at the Mercy of the Elements

(left) Lee Boroson, Fixed Haze, 2014. Photo: Lee Stalsworth (middle) Vesna Pavlović, Installation view of Untitled (Annex, Giacometti exhibition, 1963), 2014. Photo: Mica Scalin (right) Jill O’Bryan, one billion breaths in a lifetime, 2015. Photo courtesy The Phillips Collection, Washington, DC
While it might not be immediately apparent, I see a similarity in the works by contemporary artists Lee Boroson, Vesna Pavlović, and Jill O’Bryan currently (or recently, in the case of Pavlović) on view at the Phillips. Through very different materials, all three are subject in some way to elements beyond the artist’s control. Boroson’s Fixed Haze (at left above, and on view in Intersections@5) dangles from the ceiling and might spin rapidly or not at all based on wind; Pavlović’s Untitled (Annex, Giacometti exhibition, 1963), a giant curtain which I wrote briefly about while it was on view in 2014, might show a distinct image or appear nearly transparent depending on sunlight; and as O’Bryan says of her work one billion breaths in a lifetime, this piece is best experienced when “activated” by observing the reflection as you move by it. Seeing these works at different points during the day or month has the potential to be a wholly unique experience each time.
Amy Wike, Marketing Manager
How Long Does It Take To Breathe One Billion Breaths?
Artist Jill O’Bryan and team install her work one billion breaths in a lifetime on the corner of 21st & Q Streets, NW, right outside the museum (listen close for the answer to the question in this blog post’s title!).