The painter, Conor Murgatroyd, was born 1995 in Bradford. His father, Carl Murgatroyd, is a local freelance graphic designer/illustrator.
Conor attended a pre-degree art course at Leeds College of Art, 2011-2013, leading to study at Chelsea College of Art, London, and the award of a BA in Fine Art in 2016.
In his final year, he was awarded £1,500 by the charitable organisation, The Honorable Society of the Knights of the Round Table for the originality of his final year work. The Society, formed in London in 1720, by a group of actors, artists, and literary supporters, including Charles Dickens, encourages young people, including emerging visual artists,by the award of grants to those deemed to have made an exceptional start in their career.
After graduating from Chelsea College, Conor took some time out from out to work in the construction industry, but still continued to paint in his free time. He later told Dead Art:
I became alienated from painting and the art world. I grew tired of the clichés and cliques that existed around the periphery of scene and needed time doing different work. I worked in the construction industry for a few years and in a range of different trades- it was influential and important for me to do my time in that industry.
However, in 2019 returned full-time to painting:
Now I am focusing on my art, connecting with a wide range of different artists that come from the Art world, the construction world and all over. Most importantly I am enjoying my time focusing on my painting practice full time, which was not a luxury afforded to me for a while.
His current paintings draw together myriad past events, emotions, nostalgic memories, and imagination that make up his own, as well as a common humanity. Images are often presented, as if staged, in unconventional, often confounding and unexpected juxtapositions. His interest in history and its impact on the present and future, has been a consistent driving force in his work to date. He has said of this:
I believe that by understanding movements of the past one can better untangle humanity today but also see the world in a more beautiful way; painting for me is a way to ruminate on this.
See the artist’s website, below, for the range of galleries where his work is, or has been, exhibited and sold. These include the Mall Gallery, All Mouth Gallery, and Splish.
