David Mcconnell

CV:

David McConnell: A Portrait in Sound (video interview)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rn4rtyXCBno

"Digital" Music with David McConnell (about the music box installations):
http://nashermuseumblogs.org/?p=3112

Prescription
David McConnell makes Bickett Gallery's multimedia dreams come true
http://www.indyweek.com/indyweek/prescription/Content?oid=1197814

e d u c a t i o n                                       

Self taught

s o l o  e x h i b i t i o n s

2/10   ABBA Fine Art, Miami, FL

4/09   Flanders Gallery, Raleigh, NC

5/07   ABBA Fine Art, Polysymphonic Sun, Miami, FL

3/07   Cherry Modern, Raleigh, NC

9/06   Bickett Gallery at Hudson, Exhibition One, Raleigh, NC

5/06   Bickett Gallery, Raleigh, NC

11/03 Opolis, New Video Installation, Norman, OK         

g r o u p  e x h i b i t i o n s

8/10      Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, NC

4/10      Art Chicago, The Merchandise Mart, Chicago, IL

12/09    ABBA Fine Art, Miami, FL

12/08    SCOPE  Miami, Miami, FL

12/08    ABBA Fine Art, Miami, FL

3/08     Red Dot Fair, New York, NY

12/07    Art Now Fair and ABBA Fine Art, Miami, FL 

5/08     Works of Heart- Art auction against AIDS, Raleigh, NC

11/05    Ralph Lauren, Generation Engage, Washington D.C.

10/05    Fish Market Gallery, Raleigh, NC

10/95    Tierra Del Sol, Claremont, CA

7/95     Haven Gallery, Pomona, CA

u p c o m i n g  e x h i b i t i o n s

2011    Flanders Gallery, Raleigh, NC

p u b l i c a t i o n s / m e d i a

National Public Radio, nationally syndicated live interview by Nic Harcourt, 01/03

SPIN Magazine, Interview by Liam Gowing, 12/04

Magnet Magazine, Interview by Jonathan Valania, 01/05

News and Observer, Interview by Craig Jarvis, 05/06

Miami Art Guide- Exhibition preview

Flavorpill- Exhibition preview by Omar Sommereyns

The Independent Weekly, Interview and Review by Grayson Curin, 06/06

News and Observer, Review of Bickett Gallery exhibition by Ellen Sung, 06/06

The Independent Weekly, Review of Exhibition One by Douglas Vuncannon, 12/06

Arts Ramble, Review of Exhibition One by Doug Stuber, 2/06        

p u b l i c  c o l l e c t i o n s

The Sackner Archive  of Concrete and Visual Poetry, Miami, FL

Biography:

David McConnell: Plotting Chance

Employing a range of media, including painting, assemblage, sculpture, sound installation and film, David McConnell cultivates spontaneous emotional expressions and organic creativity. By juxtaposing unusual elements and recontextualizing what were once familiar objects and images, he challenges the viewer to find beauty in unexpected sights and sounds.

McConnell’s art historical influences can be seen clearly; Fluxus, DADA and Abstract Expressionism are all movements that the artist admires.  His paintings in particular are full of energy and fluid abstraction, eschewing narrative in favor of more open interpretation. The works have a kinetic energy that gives them a sense of continual flow and movement.  McConnell’s approach to painting is to create layer upon layer of color and form, at times collaging found objects onto the surface, so that images and color emerge from a thick impasto.  A self-taught artist, McConnell’s desire to mark spontaneity and plot chance results in works that respect historical influences even as they discard them.  Of his process, he notes, “I just try to let the work make itself.”  The resulting pieces are more reflective of personal experience than learned methodologies. 

The artist’s background as a composer and producer has naturally contributed to his love of improvisation.  It is understandable, then, that McConnell seeks to incorporate his interest in the recording process into the architecture of his work.  Recent paintings such as Stereo Symphonic (2009), Angeles (2009) and Symphony for Forks, Spoons and Knives (2009) carry in their rhythmic brushstrokes the literal and metaphorical markings of sound.  McConnell’s videos take representation of the aural a step further, combining the visual formality of his two-dimensional works with either his own compositions or found sounds.  A recent video piece, It Is Detached From the Earth (2009) for example, consists of a single shot of the artist’s turntable playing the vintage record “Voices of the Loon.”  The hauntingly beautiful sounds of the loon in its natural habitat, combined with the soothing authority of the narrator’s voice results in a surprisingly poetic work, in which the mechanical representation of nature becomes transporting.

In his installations and sculptures, McConnell combines his obsession with production processes and his musical virtuosity.  Movement is important here as well; his installations tend to employ multiple turntables, amps, speakers and instruments to play individual parts in turn, creating “symphonies” of melodic sound that flow throughout the exhibition space, surrounding the viewer.  Here, too, the ideas of surprise and improvisation are key.  In McConnell’s recent work Gideon’s Reverse Bible (2009), for example, the artist reads the pages of the ubiquitous hotel Bible backwards to an experimental music score.  The piece, which is then played back in the gallery space through vintage recording devices, is both a work of abstract poetry and an investigation of religious history and cultural meaning.

David McConnell is based in Raleigh, NC.  His work has been exhibited at venues including Bickett Gallery, NC; ABBA Fine Art, FL; and Opolis, OK.  Likewise, his work has been included in the current exhibition, The Record at the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University. McConnell’s work is in a range of private and public collections, including the Sackner Archive of Visual and Concrete Poetry in Miami Beach, FL