Michael James O'Brien received the M.F.A from Yale University where he studied in the early 1970's with Walker Evans. He was associate professor of photography at Kenyon College in Ohio and taught at the New School in New York City in the mid-80's
His work has been commissioned by magazines such as The New Yorker, Departures, The Face, Rolling Stone, Newsweek, The New York Times, L'Uomo Vogue, Eyemazing, Travel and Leisure, Zoo and Conde Nast Traveller by advertising clients including Illy Caffe, Penhaligon's London, L'Artisan Parfumeur, Longchamp, Thierry Mugler, Bergdorf Goodman, Polo Ralph Lauren, Saks Fifth Avenue and Nautica.
He is currently Contributing Editor of Departures.
In 1993 he began a collaboration with Matthew Barney, producing all of Barney's still photographs and creating a photographic parallel to his Drawing Restraint 7, Cremaster 1, 2, 4, 5. These works have been exhibited at the Musée Moderne in Paris from October 2002-January 2003; at the Guggenheim New York in 2003 and throughout the world.
An accomplished and published poet, O'Brien has been editor-at-large of the print and on-line poetry fanzine Verbal Abuse since its inception in 1993. He has read at Jackie 60, Cabaret Magique, The Nuyorican in New York and The Groucho Club in London.
His book of photographs, Girlfriend: Men, Women and Drag, was published in 1999 by Random House.
Most recently, his work was shown in solo exhibitions in Paris at galerie213 in November 2004 and in November 2006 at Hermès New York and in group shows in Santiago de Compostella in November 2007 and in artphotoexpo at Art Miami/Basel in December 2007.