Connor
Dolan
Statement
With an almost neurotic curiosity about the world, fact-finding and Wikipedia click holes entertain me as much as anything. Consequently, my artwork often centers on a captivating figure I’ve stumbled across and expands outward to incorporate more complicated materials and sometimes misunderstood subject matter that lies beyond everyday familiarity. Things like radiation, pharmaceuticals, petroleum, germs, GMOs, and even narcotics are all fascinating yet unnerving. While often considered outright dangerous, I present these technologies as complex tools—able to accomplish both evil and good with the right oversight and regulation.
Elegant and striking visuals in my work function as an icebreaker for deeper engagement with these topics. I utilize sleek, modern, and post-minimalistic materials, often employing repetition and symmetry in my hybridized works in addition to strategic flashes of supersaturation. These can manifest as either sculpture or painting, in which pigment and binder chemistry is of particular importance.
Biography
Connor Dolan is an artist born in Miami, Florida and currently resides in South Florida after receiving a degree in Painting at Washington University in St. Louis. His creations are often scientific and research heavy, but aesthetic forward and driven by deep curiosity about the natural and mechanical world. Connor sometimes works with hard-to-obtain materials, leading him to frequently communicate with the EPA and OSHA as well as a network of overseas suppliers and consultants to obtain items that are often highly regulated. His work has been shown at galleries in St. Louis, Kansas City, South Florida, and Los Angeles. Connor’s work has been featured by Dazed Korea and Sculpture Magazine among other publications. Three Cubic Feet of Stone, Blood, and Meat—the artist’s first solo show—opened at MONACO Gallery in St. Louis in September 2022.