Interview

Jun 23

Connor Henderson

Connor Henderson is an artist based in Southport on the North West coast of England. His work is his form of communication and figuring out his place in the world. As a person with autism, these things that may seem trivial to others are huge hurdles he has to overcome, but he uses his art to articulate. Connor has been creating for as long as he can remember and always knew he wanted to be an artist.

Though Connor briefly set that dream aside due to discouraging experiences in school, a chance encounter with a successful art curator in Manchester reignited my confidence. Now, he has been working for 5 years of practice, growth, and exploration and he’s excited to share his work with the world. Connor works with acrylics and found materials - both natural and man-made - using both abstract and figurative elements. He primarily focuses on the subject of home from both the perspective of someone who is deeply intertwined with where he comes from and its history, while also feeling like an outsider due to how he sees the world and what he wants to do. Every piece Connor creates is a reflection of the way he experiences the world.

What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?

“I come from a sleepy seaside town in the North West of the UK called Southport. My dad is a bricklayer and my mum runs a nursery so I don’t have any family background in art, I just like sitting I’m my room alone and gravitated to drawing and painting since I was a kid. After a bunch of years hating school and a bad art teacher telling me I didn’t have what it took, I slowly forgot about being an artist and tried my best to live the normal 9-5 life but quickly realized I needed art to keep me sane. So I kept working and making art until I was confident enough to start showing my art to the public for the first time. Even though this was my dream from being old enough to hold a pencil my journey in the art world is just starting.”

What does your work aim to say? Does it comment on any current social or political issues?

“My art doesn't have any specific message, it’s how I see the world and how I work though my issues, if other people can relate to that then that’s great but if not that’s fine, I’m still going to keeping making my art and sharing my point of view because its the only thing I know how to do. I don’t really care about politics, the world has enough people pretending to know what their talking about jumping on whatever will get them the most social justice points, it’s disingenuous and so glaringly obvious to see through.”

Do you plan your work in advance, or is it improvisation?

“I have days where I’m manic with ideas and they seem like the best ideas in the world then I come back to look at them a few days later and start to contemplate if I’m losing my mind, thankfully some of them are good and I just stew on them for a few days then go by my 2 degrees of separation rule and start making something.”

“I like exploring all styles of art, so I use pretty much anything I can get my hands on.”

Are there any art world trends you are following?

“I’m a bit of an outsider so I really only see whatever pops up on my Instagram explore page to be honest. I’m a big fan of the airbrushed aesthetic going round at the moment, I feel its my generation finally coming through the pipework bringing the grungy subversion what you'd expect from a bunch of nihilistic internet kids who grew up on tumblr bringing some attitude back to art which I’m super happy about, its something I’m looking to have a play around with in the future even if it never sees the light of day.”

What process, materials and techniques do you use to create your artwork?

“I like exploring all styles of art, so I use pretty much anything I can get my hands on. For the most part, I stick to acrylic when painting because I can't stand waiting for paint to dry. Recently, I've been incorporating materials from my home town like sand and foliage from the beach to create a deeper connection to me in my work.”

What does your art mean to you?

“I have autism so I use art to communicate and understand my place in the world. I have a lot of trouble understanding myself and how I feel a lot of the time as well as other people but I feel more equipped to navigate these feelings through my art as opposed to telling others.”

What’s your favourite artwork and why?

“‘Painting 1946 by Francis bacon’ I just adore everything about that painting, it’s both grotesque yet stunningly beautiful, all the texture and different brush strokes in it are incredible, I was lucky enough to see it in person at the MoMA not knowing it was there and I had to sit down on the floor to just look at it and take it in which got me a good few weird looks from passers-by and security.”