John O' Connor

John O' Connor graduated from Glasgow School of Art in 1995 with a BA (Hons) in Printmaking and is an ordinary member of the Society of Scottish Artists.

John was diagnosed as a chronic schizophrenic and subsequently spent time in Hartwood Mental Hospital in Scotland.

At the Trongate Studios, John works with oil paints, draws with pastel pencils, and does sculpture based on the human figure, abstracting the form away from traditional representations in the classical mode.

Life drawing is central to John's art practice, with regular hours in the life room, drawing from the model using pencil or pastel. This work is then taken away and worked on with watercolour.

Watercolours are becoming more prevalent in John's work with classical approaches to representation in both line and form. Along with this work John also has another body of work, which is more subconscious and deeply spiritual in nature. This work relies on the intuitive nature of the artist, using the wet on wet approach with line and colour merging and bleeding into one another in a way that is very akin to oil painting.

The randomness of this approach keeps the image and process alive with excitement and joy. In the final dry completed piece, the images vibrate with energy through colour against raw colour.

John has been a practising professional artist for eighteen years and still feels the thrill of approaching a new work with exhilaration. For him the process is just as important as the end result, through which always making new ground is fundamental.