Evie O’Connor – St Troez Scene – Artwork of the Week – FESCH.TV

FESCH.TV INFORMIERT:

Evie O’Connor paints sumptuous scenes that explore affluent lifestyles. Illustrious and tempting – they also encourage important conversations surrounding class, privilege and excess in a time of extreme wealth inequality between the rich and the poor.

42 Miles west of Nice, and 62 miles West of Marseille, lies the jetting setting, megabuck resort of Saint-Tropez. It is here O’Connor paints an opulent scene made up of a supreme white yacht coasting on a sapphire-blue sea. The water is calm. The sky is cloudless. It is a familiar paparazzi scene that greets us every summer as the mega rich descend on the South of France. Guests are aboard the ship, or maybe the owners themselves. The viewer doesn’t exactly know, but they can interpret the character’s nonchalant pose, general blasé, and unconscious lounging on the decks. The fully clothed men observe the bikini clad girls. These figures are kitted out in the preppiest of clothing, with no need to assert a sense of individualism. The mammoth yacht speaks for them.

Evie O’Connor (b. 1993, Derbyshire, UK) is an artist living and working in London. She received a MA from Glasgow School of Art and a BA from London College of Fashion. Her work has been the subject of exhibitions in Shanghai, LA, London and Manchester. O’Connor’s most recent solo show was the inaugural exhibition at Taymour Grahne Projects (Notting Hill), and O’Connor recently participated in the group show Contemporary Domesticity along with 27 other artists at Taymour Grahne Projects. She is currently completing a residency at Sarabande: The Lee Alexander McQueen Foundation, and was previously an artist in residence at Dumfries House.