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Art Self portrait
It’s a quiet Sunday morning. Conor is loping around his parents’ Melrose home like an exuberant lion. He came home for a few months to launch his artworks on the local scene at an exhibition aptly called Look at Me, which was held at the David Brown Fine Art gallery in Johannesburg. He’s spent family time with his parents and two younger brothers, Matt and Liam. He’s been busy socialising and getting his name out there. Of course, his Manhattan success precedes him. The setting for Conor’s Jo’burg studio is idyllic. His parents’ home is not only spectacular, it just happens to be the historic Melrose farmhouse. Set amidst towering trees and lots of lavender, the home invites visitors to enter through numerous doors. In the lush garden there’s a black heated pool surrounded by decking complete with hammock and two other seating areas, each more spectacular than the last. Here, the movie director is Carole, an artist and architect. Her touch is everywhere, in the lavender drying inside Conor’s rondavel studio, in the lavish candelabras by the pool, on an outside table, and in the striped cushions on the chaises by the pool… A week before the exhibition, Conor was still creating bright, bold, beautiful artworks for it, including a portrait of Dali Tambo in citrus and black hues, and an expressive pink collage of supermodel Bar Refaeli with slashes of dappled white enamel for dramatic effect. A week after, exuberance. It’s fair to say his journey to launch his art at home was mission accomplished. A phenomenal nine pieces sold outright at the opening night from the 16 exhibited. Conor exudes a nonchalance that comes from being part of the in-crowd. His oversized artworks, splashed with colour and feeling, grace the walls of some of Manhattan’s best hotels and apartments, rubbing shoulders with Andy Warhol. He frequents places where Kate Moss, Ted Kennedy and Brad Pitt are regulars. He lives in lush, exclusive Gramercy Park, and according to New York magazine, ‘if you have a key to Gramercy Park, it’s heaven’. Conor shrugs: ‘It’s not been all plain sailing. I’ve spent many all-nighters to secure my spot in the art and food market in Union Square, among heroin addicts, major hobos and severe crack-heads in New York.’ His precise diction and impeccable manners reflect his Hilton College, KwaZulu-Natal roots. After matric, Conor got a golf scholarship to a university in North Carolina. During spring break, he and some friends spent a week in New York. ‘Visiting the galleries, I knew I wanted to put my art there, too,’ he says. Until then, Conor admits, ‘I’d never thought of myself as a serious artist. I’d always been serious about art, but now I was serious about making it my career.’ He’d won prizes at school and loved painting, but that’s where he’d left it – until his Manhattan visit. So he moved to New York to study at Brooklyn’s famous Pratt Institute’s School of Art and Design. In the span of three years, Conor’s life has changed immeasurably. Apart from being an accomplished artist who spends his days painting in his loft apartment, he is also a model, a world that not only opens many social doors, but also enables him to fund his painting. He socialises with famous models, agents and art collectors. Celebrities’ names slip off his tongue with ease. By now, Conor’s back in New York City shooting the breeze with the rich and famous and doing what he loves best – transforming huge canvases into wonderful artistic creations. He says with unswerving confidence: ‘Soon my work will be compared to great artists such as Pollock, Picasso, Beard, Stern and others.’ Conor’s success is his passion for his work. ‘Modelling is a passing phase, something I do to finance my art supplies. Art’s my true passion – it’s what’s going to last.’ www.conormccreedy.com
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