Mr. O'Cain was born in San Diego, California and studied at
the Art Students League of New York for four years, part of
that time with Vaclav Vytlacil. He is unusual in that his
abstract art derives from an elaborate study of
long-forgotten fifteenth-century techniques. For a time,
O'Cain's oil paintings involved no fewer than a hundred
separate glazes. But all these now lie behind him. They
bear witness to unusual technical accomplishments.
Recently, O'Cain has been exploring a new approach to space
in painting. As he says, I am always wandering about in the
unknown, asking myself questions, creating new problems,
finding fresh possibilities.
Mr. O'Cain has had one-man shows at Purdue
University; the Miriam Perlman Gallery in Chicago,
Illinois, 1981; the Miriam Perlman Gallery, Inc. in Flint,
Michigan; the Princeton Art Association, New Jersey;
Levitan Gallery I and II, New York, in 1969 and 1977; the
Saginaw Art Museum, Michigan; the Ella Sharp Museum,
Jackson, Michigan; Northern Illinois University, Dekalb,
Illinois; and in Basel and Zurich, Switzerland. His work is
represented in the Midwest Museum of American Art, Elkhart,
Indiana and in the Saginaw Art Museum, Michigan. He was
represented in Europe by the Theano Stahelin Kunstsalon,
Zurich, Switzerland, and at present, in New York with the
D. D. and B. Gallery. Mr. O'Cain is an instructor at the
Art Students League of New York