PATRICK CONNORS
HIS CIRCLE
In the Duke Gallery Along the Schuylkill: Patrick Connors and His Circle
9/12 to 10/16
Exhibiting Artists: Stanley Bielen, Dot Bunn, Deborah Deichler, Maureen Drdak, Paul DuSold, Niloofar Gholamrexael, Gary Gross, Julia levitina, Christine Lafuente, Nicole Michaud, Russell Recchion, Robeto Osti, Bill Scott, Joel Shambe, Stuart Shills, Melanie Stackhouse, Dan Thompson, John Thornton
The Art of Patrick Connors
Connor’s most signature works are his paintings of the Schuylkill River and it’s bridges. In these paintings the sky and the river provide allusions to the transience of nature as a setting for the human ambition to achieve a sense of permanence as expressed by the bridges. These bridges march backward and forward in both space and time, transporting the viewer to an awareness of the ebb and flow of life and civilization. They offer promise of an ideal order both present to us now and waiting beyond this life.
What matters most in this imaginative realm of Connors’ paintings is humankind’s dedication to the discovery and experience of beauty; a relationship to life that is beyond the intellect and found only in the the imagination, and, more specifically, in the imaginative realm of love. It is the love behind mankind’s creation of beautiful works of art in response to the challenge faced in crossing a river. It is the love of the sensory perception of sight. It is a love for the art of painting.
The architectural forms in Connors’ paintings – the bridges, dams and classical gazebos – can be seen as a metaphor of the insatiable human need to find and express a sense of meaning through art.
Patrick Connors’ paintings are an elegiac expression of the profound elemental grace and harmony of the Classical ideal within the mystery and power of the Romantic spirit of individualism. His ambition is nothing less than a vision of connection between time past and time future.
Patrick Connors was a vital member of the Philadelphia Art community for over 40 years. From the time of his graduating from PAFA in 1980 to his death in 2022 he was an important member of the Philadelphia artist community. As an artist and instructor as well as a uniquely loving friend his life was a gift to those who had the pleasure of knowing him. The purpose of this exhibit is to honor Patrick’s place in the ongoing history of painting in Philadelphia.