Ric Conn
Biography
Ric Conn is an internationally known award winning expressionist artist; creating paintings that reflect relevant social issues, equality, empowerment and psychological conditions to increase awareness and understanding. He focuses primarily on figurative depictions of the female experience, looking into the realities women face in Western culture focusing on their courage and beauty..
Ric has had many solo and group shows in Baltimore, Columbia, Annapolis, Frederick, Stevensville, and Centreville MD; Washington, D.C.; Manhattan and Chelsea, New York City.
He has been featured in articles in several newspapers, and magazines, including “Art Tour International Magazine,” “Art in America’s issue on galleries and artists in America,” and interviewed on television, both local and network. Ric has been named “Top 60 Masters of Contemporary Art for 2020,” “Artist of the Decade 2010-2020,” and “Artivist (artist/activist) of the year 2019 and 2020” by Art Tour International Magazine. Additionally he has been in their summer, autumn and winter issues (back cover artist), and in American Art Collector, and he was awarded Artist of the Future by Contemporary Art Curator magazine.
Artist Statement
I am an internationally known award winning expressionist artist; creating paintings that reflect relevant social issues, equality, empowerment and psychological conditions to increase awareness and understanding. I focus primarily on figurative depictions of the female experience, looking into the realities women face in Western culture focusing on their courage and beauty. I am inspired mostly by Toulouse-Lautrec, Edvard Munch, Picasso, Matisse and the German Expressionists. My work is concerned not with objective reality but rather the emotions that objects and events arouse within a person — positive or negative — especially the understanding of the self within the viewer. Distortion, exaggeration, and fantasy are the filters through which I paint the modern world. My work is different—it is not conventional, academic, or even the new modernism. I am creating a new avant-garde.
What first prompted you to think of becoming an artist?
When I was 5 I discovered modeling (or what I called it then – shading), then I started freehand drawing.
What kind of an artist do you ultimately see yourself?
A figurative painter, as I am now.
What are you hoping to communicate to the viewer through your work?
The relevant social issues with which I deal, specifically equality and empowerment.
Can you explain the process of creating your work?
Sometimes I have an idea first then I sketch it for the composition; sometimes I start sketching first, just abstract ideas until the painting concept emerges. Then I go to the canvas and either draw the concept with charcoal on the canvas, or go right to paint for the drawing then start the painting.
What is your favorite part of the creative process?
My favorite part is the preliminary sketching and drawing, from drawing board to canvas, bringing my idea to fruition.
Can you give us an insight into current projects and inspiration, or what we can look forward to from you in the near future?
I will be continuing my work on empowerment and equality.
Website: https://www.ricconn.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ricconn/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ricconnfineart
