Fiona Connor (born 1981) is a

visual artist The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics (art), ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual a ...

from

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, currently based in

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

Education

Fiona Connor was born in 1981 in

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

, New Zealand. In 2004 she graduated from the

Elam School of Fine Arts The Elam School of Fine Arts, founded by John Edward Elam, is part of the University of Auckland Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries, Faculty of Creative Arts and Industries at the University of Auckland. It offered the first Bachelor of ...

with a BFA/BA. She has also studied at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

and

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

and has an MFA from the

California Institute of the Arts The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a Private university, private art school in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for ...

. She is currently based in

Work

Connor often replicates everyday objects in her sculptural installations. Simulacra of public noticeboards, drinking fountains, outdoor furniture, doors and so on draw attention to these often overlooked forms of civic infrastructure. She also has an ongoing collaborative project with artist Michala Paludan, Newspaper Reading Club. Connor has exhibited throughout New Zealand and internationally. Notable exhibitions include: * ''Notes on the half the page'', Gambia Castle, Auckland (2008), solo * ''Something Transparent (please go round the back)'', Michael Lett, Auckland (2009), solo * ''NEW10'', Australian Centre for Contemporary Art (ACCA), Melbourne (2010), group * ''On Forgery: is one thing better than another?'', LAXART, Los Angeles (2011), group * ''Prospect: New Zealand Art Now'', City Gallery, Wellington (2011), group * ''De-Building'', Christchurch Art Gallery, Christchurch (2011), group * ''Reading the map while driving'', CalArts, Los Angeles (2011), solo * ''Untitled (Mural Design)'', Dunedin Public Art Gallery, Dunedin (2012), solo * ''Murals and Print'', Various Small Fires, Los Angeles (2012), solo * ''Made in L.A., Hammer Museum'', Los Angeles (2012), group *''Bare Use'', 1301PE, Los Angeles (2013), solo * SCAPE Public Art Biennial, Christchurch (2013), group *''Wallworks'', Monash University Museum of Art, Melbourne (2014), solo *''Inside Outside Upside Down: Five Contemporary New Zealand Artists'', Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tamaki (2015), group *''Stories of Almost Everyone'', Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018), group *''Fiona Connor: Closed Down Clubs'' MAK Center, Los Angeles (2018) solo * ''Closed for Installation'', Sequence of Events,

Secession Secession is the formal withdrawal of a group from a Polity, political entity. The process begins once a group proclaims an act of secession (such as a declaration of independence). A secession attempt might be violent or peaceful, but the goal i ...

, Vienna (2019) solo * ''Closed for installation'' Fiona Connor,

Sculpture Center Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

, #4, Sculpture Center, New York (2019) solo * ''Celebration of Our Enemies: Selections from the

Hammer A hammer is a tool, most often a hand tool, consisting of a weighted "head" fixed to a long handle that is swung to deliver an impact to a small area of an object. This can be, for example, to drive nail (fastener), nails into wood, to sh ...

Contemporary Collection'' Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2019) group * ''Haunt''

Institute of Modern Art The Institute of Modern Art (IMA) is a public art gallery located in the Judith Wright Arts Centre in the Brisbane inner-city suburb of Fortitude Valley, which features contemporary artworks and showcases emerging artists in a series of group and ...

, Brisbane (2019) group * ''Berman Board''

Armory Center for the Arts The Armory Center for the Arts is a non-profit community arts organization that offers arts education programs and contemporary art exhibitions in Pasadena, California, United States. It originated as the education department of the Pasadena Art ...

, Los Angeles (2019) group * ''Out of Place'' Drill Hall Gallery, Australian National University, Canberra (2021) group * ''Long Distance'' Maureen Paley, London (2022) solo * ''Continuous Sidewalk'' Chateau Shatto, Los Angeles (2023) solo Connor was a founding member of two art spaces in Auckland; Special, and Gambia Castle. She also established the project space Laurel Doody. Connor was a finalist in the 2010

Walters Prize The Walters Prize is New Zealand's largest contemporary art prize. Held biennially since 2002, the prize aims to 'make contemporary art a more widely recognised and debated feature of cultural life'. The prize is named in honour of New Zealand ab ...

with her work ''Something Transparent (please go round the back)'' (first shown in 2009 at Michael Lett, Auckland). In 2011, she received the

Arts Foundation of New Zealand The Arts Foundation of New Zealand Te Tumu Toi is a New Zealand arts organisation that supports artistic excellence and facilitates private philanthropy through raising funds for the arts and allocating it to New Zealand artists. The foundatio ...

Award for Patronage donation from Chartwell Trust. She also received a New Work Grant in 2008 from

Creative New Zealand The Arts Council of New Zealand Toi Aotearoa (Creative New Zealand) is the national arts development agency of the New Zealand government established in 1963. It invests in artists and arts organisations, offering capability building programmes a ...

. Work by Connor are held in several public collections including

Auckland Art Gallery Auckland Art Gallery Toi o Tāmaki is the principal public gallery in Auckland, New Zealand. It has the most extensive collection of national and international art in New Zealand and frequently hosts travelling international exhibitions. Set be ...

and the

Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa The Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa is New Zealand's national museum and is located in Wellington. Usually known as Te Papa ( Māori for ' the treasure box'), it opened in 1998 after the merging of the National Museum of New Zealand ...

. She is represented by Coastal Signs in Auckland, New Zealand and

Maureen Paley Maureen Paley (born 1953Sleeman, Elizabeth (ed.) ''The International Who's Who of Women'' (London and New York: Routledge, 2002), p. 431. Entry on Paley available as snippet viehere/ref>) is the American owner of a contemporary art gallery in Be ...

in London.

References

External links

''Artist Profile: Fiona Connor''
Auckland Art Gallery 1981 births Living people New Zealand painters New Zealand women painters Elam Art School alumni University of California, San Diego alumni University of Barcelona alumni California Institute of the Arts alumni {{NewZealand-artist-stub New Zealand women artists