CoNoR LARKiN ART

​I’m Conor, a self-taught artist from Kilrea, in rural County Derry.

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Art has always been a big part of my life....

What started as a love of painting gradually became a full-time career, and today I’m lucky enough to spend my working days doing something I genuinely enjoy.

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I was born in the 1970s, so I suppose I’m from a generation that grew up making things with our hands. Despite living in an increasingly digital world, I’ve always preferred the analogue side of things — paint, canvas, brushes, knives and the physical process of producing a painting. For me, that's still where the magic happens...

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My paintings are rooted in the Irish landscape. I’m drawn to the ordinary places around me — the roads, fields, houses, coastlines, people and buildings that can easily become part of the background of everyday life. I like to take those familiar scenes and look at them differently.

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Colour is a big part of that. Rather than simply reproducing what I see, I use strong, sometimes unexpected colours and expressive palette-knife work to give the paintings their own character. Most of my work is created in acrylic, with oil occasionally finding its way onto the easel.

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I’m particularly interested in the balance between recognition and interpretation. You should know the place you’re looking at, but it shouldn’t feel quite the same as it does in real life.

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Over the years, my paintings have found homes with collectors in Ireland and much further afield, from the US to Australia, and the Caribbean to Scandinavia. Much of my work is created as private commissions, which I particularly enjoy because there is usually a personal story behind the painting.

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I also hold an annual exhibition and sale, giving me the chance to step away from commissions and simply paint what I want to paint.

 

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