Danny O'Connor

Got That Fierce Focus - 21st Century, Contemporary Painting, Modern Portrait

2017

Having studied Graphic Arts at Liverpool John Moores University’s School of Art and Design, his practice is a celebration of juxtapositions. O’Connor focuses mainly on portraits and figures that have a prevalence of opposing artistic influences. The artist’s inspiration walks a varied tightrope between high and lowbrow sources from Comics, Illustration, Character Design, Tattoo Art and Graffiti to German Expressionism, Abstract Expressionism, Cubism, Futurism, Art Nouveau, Pre-Raphaelites, Modernism and Constructivism. The styles interlace to create hyper-stylised and abstracted works. Danny O’Connor likes to mix natural flowing lines with harsh diagonals, clean crisp areas of colour with layered messy splashes of paint. He is trying to achieve something that appears both modern and futuristic whilst retaining a raw traditional aesthetic. The paintings are built up layer upon layer of paint endowing the pieces with a great depth of field. Armed with an arsenal of tools beyond paint and brush, O’Connor uses all manner of media such as correction fluid, spray paint, ink, paint markers, texture pastes, charcoal, graphite, oil sticks, digital art techniques and collage. The artist applies these tools in a diverse manner by using brushes, fingers, paint rollers, sticks, paper and cardboard to drip, splash, spray, print, and by stroking the paint onto the surface.