CONOR HARRINGTON (Irlandais, né en 1980) Sans titre Peinture aérosol et acrylique sur toile, signée au dos Spray paint and acrylic on canvas, signed verso 165.5 x 180 cm - 64.9 x 70.8 in Exposition : Gallery Lazarides, Londres Conor Harrington's blend of the historical and hypermodern is unsurpassed. The Irish former graffiti artist still paints outdoor murals worldwide to considerable acclaim, while enjoying a meteoric rise in his gallery career. Conor's lauded large-scale paintings fuse realist figurative work inspired by old masters with abstractions taken from the graffiti scene that nurtured his talents. He is a central figure within a new breed of young artists tackling socio-political themes using fine art techniques in a context formerly reserved for street artists. His work combines contemporary and classical references to create an astonishingly resonant dialogue with the viewer. Conor's earliest works used cutting-edge graffiti techniques to create intense multi-layered artworks (such as Battle 4) that alluded to the work of abstract expressionist artists. In this way, he compared the radical street art movement to the revolutionary anti-figurative art of the early and mid-20th century. From the mid-Noughties Conor began including male figurative aspects in his compositions. In pieces such as The Rum and Raisin of Irish Societyyoung contemporary metropolitan men evoked the conflicts within modern masculine identity. In others, male aspirational icons – like Formula One drivers – probed the urban art and music world's tendency towards machismo in the light of this gender role crisis. 2008's Weekend Warriors exhibition marked Conor's first use of costumes and other historical signifiers to examine current affairs. However rather than simply paint figures from bygone times the artist chose to use specific contemporary models, in this case military re-enactment enthusiasts. Paintings such as A Saint with the Powers of Supermanthrew a spotlight on modern man's continuing fascination with personal combat in an era when war is beginning to be waged by remote control. 2010's Holy Smoke Quintet, exhibited at Lazarides' 2010 Hell's Half Acre exhibition, concerned the European powers' encounters historical encounters with the Middle East such as the Siege of Malta in 1565. Conor not only drew attention to the gulf between the placid everyday lives of western citizens and the gung-ho use of the hi-tech war machine at their disposal, but also to the disappointingly cyclical nature of the conflict itself. 2012's startling exhibition Dead Meat showed glamour girls and alternative male fashion models in an imaginary sybaritic feast at the twilight of Western global hegemony. Conor used the Regency-era costumes and accoutrements of the early 1800s as visual cues. He thus evoked that epoch's shift in influence from traditional monarchies to republics, such as that of postrevolutionary France or the fledgling United States of America. Combining sombre commentary with thrilling artwork, Dead Meat marked Conor's arrival as a significant contemporary artist. The boutique exhibition A Whole Lot of trouble for a Little Bit of Winprofiled Conor's notable study paintings. The artist dubs these "Morning Glories", as he tackles them first thing upon arriving to work at his studio, to stimulate his creative process. In recent major works such as 2013's L'Amour et La Violence and Watch Your Palace Fall the artist has replaced his usual graffito flourishes with luxuriant black backdrops. Courtesy , Lazarides Gallery