Welcome to my site.

I am an impasto oil painter from Massachusetts,

and this is my work.

A Window Into My Work

Artist Statement

The composition of Abstract Expressionist art is based on Cubism, and like all modern painting, represents a construct on a grid or a framework; it is two-dimensional.

My work advances toward deconstructing the framework and is three-dimensional. I am dismantling and transforming everything I know into pure communication to better understand myself and the world around me without the limitations imposed by techniques, forms, shapes, even one’s own synapses. An honest conversation with the soul. Without leading the viewer on a set path of experience, I use the language of aesthetics to discover and convey how I perceive consciousness. The natural qualities of oil paint express the spontaneity that mirrors all original things through color and texture.

There is a fundamental creative energy present at the most minute level in our universe and I attempt to tap into it, as the emergence of modern questions requires new answers. When I paint, I seek those answers, to share with the world.

VIEW MY WORK

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Garden Installation (2020) - Detail View - By Barry Connolly - Oils on Canvas and Wire

BARRY CONNOLLY

Artist Biography

Barry Connolly was born and raised in Worcester, MA. The third of eight children, Connolly found space for himself in a crowded household by drawing from a young age. He graduated from high school and began painting, while completing classes in painting and illustration at Worcester Art Museum and Fanning Trade School.

From 1991 to 1993, he co-operated Parabelleza Gallery on Prescott Street, which showcased local artists. From 1997 to 2000, he lived in New York City and exhibited his work throughout Manhattan. While continuing to paint, he is employed as a diesel mechanic in Worcester, where he lives with his wife and two sons.

View Portfolio

Get In Touch

Reviews Excerpts

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Barry Connolly has no timidity about moving paint around the canvas. Colors jump, twist and explode, creating a crescendo of emotional impact upon the viewer. The rich texture of a myriad of contrasting colors evoke sensations of the frothy sea, flapping butterflies’ wings, and deep human passions–all propelling the viewer into the joy of life.

Manhattan Arts, May 1991

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Connolly exhibits a series of heavily embellished oil paintings in a thickly applied style know as impasto, which he takes to the limit, achieving a depth of emotion as much by the colors as the thousands of deep strokes he makes in the paint.

“Brush Gallery show a tribute to New York School”
Lowell Sun, January 1997

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Works On Display

Exhibits

Members’ Open Large Works
Provincetown Art Association & Museum
Provincetown, MA
March – September 2020

“One”
ArtsWorcester
Worcester, MA
December – January 2020

Mystic Museum of Art
Mystic, CT
July 2019

Bristol Art Museum
Bristol, RI
May 2019

“What is Color?”
Jefferson Market Reading Room
New York, NY
July 1998

“Oil Paintings by Barry Connolly”
Cathedral Branch
New York, NY
February 1998

“True Investigations of the Soul”
The Brush Art Gallery
Lowell, MA
January – March 1997

Galleries

Parabelleza Gallery
Worcester, MA
December 1993

Ariel Gallery
Broome Street,
New York, NY
April – May 1991

Permanent Collection

Hoyt Art Center
New Castle, PA

Say Hello

To ask about pricing or to leave a comment, please use the form below. Thank you for visiting.

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