Conor Walton’s latest exhibition entitled “Landscape and still life” adds to this Dublin born artists remarkable collection of work, the painter continues his signature battle with the ancients and the moderns, where he supports the crafts and techniques of the past as he sculptures modern day images with oil paint.
Like many before, I have realised the limitations in trying to describe great artistic works in writing or through the medium of photography. You as a reader will only truly appreciate Conor’s talent if you experience his work for yourself in the flesh, before they disappear into private collections. Having said that it would be far too easy for me to stop here.
Conor Walton’s forthcoming exhibition is a collection of landscape and still life. The landscapes are set in Ireland and Italy. The vantitas theme is the thread that runs through all the still life paintings.
The vanitas was usually represented by the placement of symbolic objects like a scull, crucifix or a snuffed out candle to indicate the passing of time. Thus bring another dimension to the reception of the objects in the paintings.
Conor Walton explained his approach, “It is about keeping and withholding the objects at the same time, making the viewer do a certain amount of work...I am really trying to give as much of the object as I can... it makes your imagination work, it is not about handing everything on a plate…I try to make my painting work on as many levels as possible.”
Gemma Tipton a writer and critic based in Dublin described Conor Walton’s work as follows, ”…it is a moment held eternal in art, in the face of implied temporal decay... nothing on the printed page, or in the pixels of the internet prepare you for the reality of Walton’s paintings in front of you. There is a shocking brilliance to them, and a sense that through them you are making a connection to either Plato’s form, or what indeed lies beneath.”
“In all of Conor Walton’s work a transformation takes place. He recognises immediately, as he says himself, that this transformation is the common denominator of all painting,” said Bruce Arnold author and Art Historian.
“Landscape and still life” will be on show from the 27th of February until the 14th of March 2009 at Jorgensen Fine Art, 29 Molesworth Street, Dublin 2.
More information at www.conorwalton.com or www.jorgensenfineart.com
About the Artist
Conor Walton was born in Dublin in 1970, and studied in the National College of Art and Design,
from which he graduated in 1993 with a Joint Honours Degree in the History of Art and Fine Art (Painting). He received a special commendation and prize for his thesis, ‘Abstraction: A Discourse on Language and Painting’.
After reading for an MA in Art History and Theory at the University of Essex, which he was awarded with distinction in 1995 (dissertation subject: ‘The Battle of the Ancients and the Moderns’), he spent some time in Florence studying painting and old master techniques with Charles Cecil. He returned to Dublin in 1996, and had his first solo exhibition there in 1999.
Conor now lives and works near Ashford, Co. Wicklow. His fifth solo exhibition, ‘Landscape and Still Life’, will take place in Dublin at Jorgensen Fine Art in February of 2009.
