Conor Harrington (b. Cork, Ireland) interrogates the legacies of colonialism, empire, and the masculinist ideals that underpin them – archaic systems of power that continue to shadow contemporary life. Drawing upon the conventions of history painting and the visual rhetoric of the eighteenth century, he reworks their languages of costume and symbol to expose the mechanisms through which authority was staged and sanctified. In his hands, these emblems of power are rendered as hollow vestiges, garments that outlive the bodies and beliefs they once adorned, emptied of conviction yet still haunting the present.
Harrington began his career as a graffiti artist and remains deeply influenced by hip-hop culture and the energy of the street. He earned his BFA from Limerick School of Art and Design and has lived in London for two decades. His work has been exhibited internationally, including at the Saatchi Gallery, London; the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA), Munich; and Southampton Arts Centre, New York. His work is held in the public collection of the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA), Munich. Harrington lives and works in London.
