PAUL CONNOR

PAUL CONNOR

PAINTER, ARCHITECT, HARBOUR MAN

Sydney, Australia

PAUL CONNOR
Painter, architect, harbour man

Paul Connor has drawn and painted all his life under two banners, architect and artist, and for nearly thirty years he carried both at once: partner in a Sydney architecture practice, and a name that kept appearing on the finalist lists of the Glover, the Mosman, the Paddington, the Calleen. Read More

A few photos from the hundreds shot that day…

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He trained in architecture, was admitted to the master's programme at Columbia and turned it down in favour of a Master of Fine Art at COFA; he founded the NSW Parliament Plein Air Painting Prize, sits as a trustee of the Australian Museum and of the Lizard Island Reef Research Station, won the Pro Hart Outback Art Prize in 2024, and this March opened Ocean, his first solo exhibition with Defiance Gallery, which represents him. He also owns a small wooden boat, built more than a hundred and fifteen years ago, which he calls his most treasured possession; you will meet it below.

I met Paul in the desert. We were both at a collective residency at Fowlers Gap, near Broken Hill, where I had been invited by Nicole Kelly to research a pictorialist portrait technique I have been fiddling with for a while: a way of working that turns a photograph into something closer to a painting. Paul was a very good sport and a superb model. Those portraits are not finished. They still have to be printed, and I am still testing processes (gum arabic is on the list). They will eventually become an exhibition.

Months later he asked me to document his Paris series and to photograph him in his Leichhardt studio, this time in a more traditional register. At the end of that first shoot he sat me down for a screening: C'était un rendez-vous, Claude Lelouch, 1976. Eight minutes of Paris at half past five in the morning, a single take, no stopping at red lights (!!!) and very little braking. I clung to my seat; it blew my mind. Watch it here, and read about it there.

Getting to know Paul: paulconnorstudio.com @paulconnorstudio

INTERVIEW

ORIGIN & IDENTITY

What's the story of your name? Paul Christopher Connor: the Connor bit is Catholic Irish and my ancestors on that side most likely came to Australia unwillingly as convicts (read slaves!). My mother's forebears emigrated to Ballarat (Victoria) during the gold rush of the 1850s from southern England bearing the name Kitto, which is a traditional Cornish diminutive of the name Christopher. Paul Fuchs, who worked with the well known philosopher Bertrand Russell, was a close friend of (and admired by) both my mother and father.

Where were you born, and where do you live now? I was born on the north side of Sydney Harbour and now live on the south side, a migration of epic proportions!

What language do you speak at home? What other languages do you speak? Sadly only English, however our children speak some Spanish and French.

As a child, did you know you wanted to do this work? Yes, I wanted to design and build things, which meant a lot of drawing which inevitably led to painting. I've drawn and painted all my life under the banners of architect and artist.

CRAFT & PRACTICE

Please describe what you do. I paint and draw, and occasionally build things.

What do you love to do so much that it makes you lose all sense of time and place? Being on Sydney Harbour in a boat.

What was your big break, the moment that changed everything for your practice? It has been a series of small breaks that have happened late in life: success in the more regarded prizes, residencies, acquisitions by regional galleries, representation in a commercial gallery I've admired (Defiance).

What's the most difficult hurdle you've overcome in your work? Giving up my day job (Architecture Practice) having paid the mortgage, school/college fees etc etc!

What does a perfect working day look like for you? Turning up at my studio.

If you could master one skill outside your craft, what would it be? Languages, especially French so that my stays in Paris can be more fulfilling.

INFLUENCES & MASTERS

What artwork, object, or piece of craft had the most impact on you? A book by Norbert Lynton on Paul Klee I got when I was 6... and have enjoyed ever since. Klee's combination of whimsy and philosophy has remained a beacon for me ever since.

Name the absolute master of your craft. There are many, but let's say Philip Guston for the moment.

Name an emerging artist or maker you're excited about right now. Kyle Murrell.

Who taught you something essential that you still carry with you? John Andrews, the late and great Australian architect... taught integrity and the ability to say 'no'. No to projects that don't interest you.

VALUES, FEARS & PERSONALITY

What are your three most important values? Loyalty, empathy and inventiveness... can I add... diligence?

What is your favourite word, and why? 'Lilting' is a word I'm currently enjoying... it is the subject of my current body of work... and apart from sounding lovely, it evokes the movement of the harbour.

What is your greatest fear? I can't even write it!

What do you most value in your friends? Loyalty, empathy and curiosity.

QUIRKS & TREASURES

What is the most extravagant thing you've done? Buying a small commercial space to use as my studio.

Is there anything you collect? I enjoy well considered/clever and well made small things that are used often... examples: Sailor fountain pen, Trangia camping stove, my small wooden boat. I have too many of these 'small things'!

What is your most treasured possession, and why? My small wooden boat. The children have grown up jumping off it (into the harbour) and picnicking on it. We still use it regularly. I've painted and drawn from it. I go down to the water's edge most days and the sight of it bobbing on its harbour mooring (near the location it was built over a hundred and fifteen years ago) gives me great joy. It has all the qualities I admire in an object, thoughtfully designed around its use with an understanding of the selected materials (Huon pine and spotted gum) and in so being, beautiful. It is efficient and practical and in so being, not ostentatious nor over engineered... it has a vulnerability that encourages one to be respectful of the environment it negotiates. Yet it has no real monetary worth... something I also like.

What sound or noise do you love? The harbour's edge (gurgling of the swell through oyster clad rocks, a luffing sail, sea gulls, groan of a wharf moving with the wash of a ferry).

TASTES & CULTURE

What's your favourite dish? Any kind of pie.

Latest book you loved. My daughter's first draft of her first novel.

Latest film that made you love cinema all over again. The Ballad of Wallis Island... poetic rendition of a life more simple.

Latest TV show you binged on. Second season of Lidia Poët, if for no other reason than the magnificent costumes.

What music are you listening to right now? When I paint I prefer moderately uplifting background music; recently I came across a French band, Nouvelle Vague, which fits the bill perfectly.

FUTURE & DREAMS

If you could live anywhere, where would it be? I live in Balmain near the harbour, it would have to be no further from Balmain than would be required to satisfy this question... maybe Paris, where I've spent many months of the years painting and drawing.

Tell me about your most exciting current or dream project. I'm currently working on my next exhibition at Defiance Gallery... it is both exciting and challenging. Each day starts with trepidation, and if I'm lucky includes some delight along the way.

What do you hope your work will be remembered for? Good painting and a few small architectural works.

If you could have dinner with anyone, living or dead, who would it be? The Swiss-French architect and artist Le Corbusier. I've been to many of his buildings, even stayed in a few (La Tourette and Unité d'Habitation), and enjoy his paintings.

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