Roy Conn (1931–2018)

Biography

Roy Conn was an abstract artist working in St Ives from the late 1950s onwards. Conn’s initial training was in structural engineering but by his mid-twenties, he shifted his attention to painting. His first studio was in Kilburn, where he painted abstract panels similar to the style of Ben Nicholson. By the 1950s, Conn was showing with The London Group and in 1958 moved to St Ives.

In St Ives, he became a member of the Penwith Society of Arts. Conn worked at No. 1 Porthmeor studios from the 1950s until they closed for the renovation of the studios complex in 2010. Conn had solo shows at the Rowan Gallery in 1966 and at the Arnolfini in Bristol in 1969. He also participated in many group exhibitions including the Belgrave Gallery, Tate, New Vision Centre, and the Penwith Gallery.

Conn’s main body of work is made up of geometric abstract paintings. His early works from the 1950s are austere in their geometry and sparing in colour, sometimes including elements of collage with old newspaper in works on paper. His style is distinctive and very in keeping with the atmosphere of St Ives in the 50s and 60s. His later works are much larger in scale and use more pure and bright colours. Often the large abstracts allude to cameras, view-finders and other technology. This body of work were the pieces shown at the Arnolfini exhibition in 1969. Conn’s late paintings and works on paper, keep with his geometric language and continue the bold use of colour but begin to be more fused with landscape and seascape. Rolling hills in blue and green and abstracted swells take over the two-dimensional planes of Conn’s work.