2008 Woodie Awards
Local artist shows work at bookstore downtown
By Dara Salley
Rocket Assistant Life/A&E Editor
Issue date: 9/30/05 Section: Entertainment
When most people think of the Impressionists they think of old Frenchmen living in the 1800s. However Sean McConnor's work proves that impressionistic painting still lives in the sights we see everyday.
Showing now at Gallery 164 in the bookstore on Main Street is a collection of work by Sean McConnor. Currently a professor of art at Thiel University, McConnor is also the chairperson and curator of their art gallery. The work that is being showcased is mainly a collection of his portraits.
"I chose the figures not so much to make portraits of individuals, but as a vehicle for making a painting," McConnor said. "Getting a likeness was only somewhat a goal for the painting. These paintings were done from observation so there is a relationship between painter and subject just on that level. The sitter provides a stimulus and I respond."
McConnor's portraits are of people who look like the population of any college campus. He has portraits of wrestlers, a man in a Rangers shirt and scruffy women in jeans. Yet his paintings are anything but ordinary. It causes the viewer to stop for a moment and ponder how something that seems so ordinary could look so beautiful through someone else's eyes.
"I 'm in search for visual patterns and designs seen from life and then translated, represented in marks, shapes, paint and abstractions," McConnor said. "I guess all painters do. It just depends on the degree of abstraction."
There was one startling aspect about McConnor's paintings. Usually, in a portrait it is the eyes that are the focus of the painting. They are the part of a portrait that can make a painting feel alive. In McConnor's paintings the eyes are not the focus. They are shadowed and blended into the rest of the face.
"The meaning is mostly embedded in the process," McConnor said. "Take for instance the three portraits of wrestlers. I recognized a connection between what these athletes do and the act of painting. Most times painting gets the upper hand, once in a while the painter can claim victory."
Whether it is conquering an especially difficult chemistry equation, mastering a foreign language or putting down your feelings on a canvas, life is about struggle. Art is no different.
'The wrestlers were chosen as a reflection on my thoughts on painting," McConnor said. "The poses of these athletes, you'll notice, are rather calm, maybe to suggest a quiet yet charged moment before a match. I often feel this way before entering the studio."
Showing now at Gallery 164 in the bookstore on Main Street is a collection of work by Sean McConnor. Currently a professor of art at Thiel University, McConnor is also the chairperson and curator of their art gallery. The work that is being showcased is mainly a collection of his portraits.
"I chose the figures not so much to make portraits of individuals, but as a vehicle for making a painting," McConnor said. "Getting a likeness was only somewhat a goal for the painting. These paintings were done from observation so there is a relationship between painter and subject just on that level. The sitter provides a stimulus and I respond."
McConnor's portraits are of people who look like the population of any college campus. He has portraits of wrestlers, a man in a Rangers shirt and scruffy women in jeans. Yet his paintings are anything but ordinary. It causes the viewer to stop for a moment and ponder how something that seems so ordinary could look so beautiful through someone else's eyes.
"I 'm in search for visual patterns and designs seen from life and then translated, represented in marks, shapes, paint and abstractions," McConnor said. "I guess all painters do. It just depends on the degree of abstraction."
There was one startling aspect about McConnor's paintings. Usually, in a portrait it is the eyes that are the focus of the painting. They are the part of a portrait that can make a painting feel alive. In McConnor's paintings the eyes are not the focus. They are shadowed and blended into the rest of the face.
"The meaning is mostly embedded in the process," McConnor said. "Take for instance the three portraits of wrestlers. I recognized a connection between what these athletes do and the act of painting. Most times painting gets the upper hand, once in a while the painter can claim victory."
Whether it is conquering an especially difficult chemistry equation, mastering a foreign language or putting down your feelings on a canvas, life is about struggle. Art is no different.
'The wrestlers were chosen as a reflection on my thoughts on painting," McConnor said. "The poses of these athletes, you'll notice, are rather calm, maybe to suggest a quiet yet charged moment before a match. I often feel this way before entering the studio."
