Evie O'Connor
Overview
“My paintings question a relentless form of wealth, where wonder, envy and discomfort can be felt simultaneously.” - Evie O'Connor
Evie O’Connor’s paintings question a relentless form of wealth, where wonder, envy and discomfort can be felt simultaneously. Personal and uncomfortable realities about the breeding ground of excess we all play a part in upholding are unearthed whilst also inviting conversation surrounding class, which for her is necessary and long overdue.
Her chosen imagery pulled from social media, review sites and tv shows, display a perverse kind of aspirational living, and shows how we experience a familiar separation through the content barrier, reinforcing the inaccessibility of these spaces. The posturing and performance within these enclaves are examined, critiqued, and dissected. Through constructing new scenes of escapism, her work plays with both our conscious and submerged ambitions to live in an Eden of beauty and satiated desires.
Empty waters, a recurring motif in her work can be seen through the depiction of private pools. The heavily lit, untouched water, a mainstay prop for high end hotels striving for exclusivity by granting guests access to areas hidden from the public. An idyllic backdrop of conspicuous leisure.
Her interest in reflecting society continues through challenging the content we’re creating, how it's digested and what it says about us. The power it has to untether us from reality and skew our perception of our own lives and the lives of others. The paintings present a visual catalogue of wealth that shows no signs of retreating but becomes ever more disconnected from the lives of its outsiders.
Biography
Evie O’Connor (b.1993, UK) is an artist based in London. In 2020 she was awarded a place on the prestigious year-long residency at Sarabande: The Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation and in 2021 she was the first invited artist-in-residence at OOF Gallery. She received her Master’s in Painting from Glasgow School of Art in 2018, during which she was also in-residence at Dumfries House.
Recent solo exhibitions include: The Gulf (Taymour Grahne Projects, London, 2023); Pay to Play (Maruani Mercier, Belgium, 2022); HYPERREALITY (Galeria Pelaires, Mallorca, 2022) and What Will Become of Us? (Taymour Grahne Projects, London (2021).
Her work has been featured in group exhibitions with galleries including: Half Gallery, New York (2023); Taymour Grahne Projects, London (2023 and 2021); WOAW Gallery, Hong Kong (2022); OOF Gallery, London (2021); Sarabande: The Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation (2021); The Function Suite, London (2020); FAIR, presented by New Art Dealers (2020); ltd los angeles, Los Angeles (2020); HOME, Manchester (2020); Gallery Vacancy, Condo Shanghai (2019); Sunday Art Fair with ltd los angeles, London (2018); Chalton Gallery (off-site), London (2018) and Bonington Gallery, Nottingham (2018) among others.
Works
