We were absolutely blown away to receive this painting by Emily Connor, an established artist from Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire. This is her stunning painting of an aerial photo that was taken by a drone, of a drone, flying over Rotherfield village with the prominence of St Deny's Church and Hornshurst Wood in the background.
This contemporary, yet realist painting boasts a new era of post modern impressionism, embracing an age of futuristic technology, acceptance and conscious development.
"Only once before have I seen a painting with a UAV featured in it, until now. Drones have often been depicted as a dystopian nuisance but in this case we have an inspired piece of artwork which is beautiful, yet challenging. I love the fact that we have a traditional image of a church, perhaps a painting that would be fairly timeless, you see the drone, then you know it is contemporary and current. It is a stunning reflection of the age we live in. In years to come this might be the painting that reminds people what was happening in 2019 and when this technology becomes primitive again, will illustrate how far we have progressed into the future.
Emily's painting for some reason reminded me of the famous artworks, The Annunciation with Saint Emidius' by Italian artist Carlo Crivellior and T'he Crucifixion', artist unknown, depicting what some may say are UFO's, or celestial aerial craft, a message of a more technologically advanced civilisation, thousands of years before ours, or simply a forward thinking artist with visions of aviation.
Whether fact or fiction, they have been the subject of many a conspiracy. Whatever the artists were trying to reflect has certainly been many the cause for debate through history.
Hopefully Emily's painting will serve to inspire anyone who views it, now and in the future, just like the master pieces from our past, have done." Says Ed.
Below are some further pieces of Emily' Connor's archive of artwork:
Emily received a First Class Honours in BA Fine Art Practice from the Grimsby Institute of Further and Higher Education and in 2016 was awarded a distinction as a Master in Fine Art at the University of Lincoln.
With an expanded practice of drawing, I endeavour to define my own archive of ‘being’. I am continually recording my relationship with phenomenology; and subsequently with a methodical duality of immediacy and attentiveness, my drawings become part of a never-ending process of trace-making." Says Emily.
‘Trace-making’ involves an interrelationship between past and present presentness. A trace is made once an experience has been encountered and documented. I make drawings that respond to the everyday spaces and environments I situate myself in, i.e. landscape, seascape, coffee shop and train. It is part of being aware; it is part meditation but most importantly, it is a process of enquiry. Trace-making is my way of ‘working on the world’[1].
“One of the pleasures of looking at drawing is the way in which, because the marks comprise a record of their own production, the viewer is able to re-experience, to a degree, the process of that drawing’s manifestation.”[2]
"The studio; the archive, is used as a metaphor for my memory and previous engagements; it provides the evidence of the non-visible; past presentness. The documentation; films and photographs, serve as supplementary material to my drawing practice. They provide visual evidence of my action; a trace of my work coming into ‘being’; and thus they enrich the context of my personal archive. Like the notes and the coding system, the films and photographs enable me to track the trace of previous marks, influencing the decisions and methods of present and future ‘trace-making’. By recording the action; I am archiving the very moment of an inscription; of a trace being made; and therefore, I am preserving the ephemeral; temporal quality of phenomenological engagement." Says Emily
You can find more of Emily's work on her website: www.emilyconnor.co.uk
To learn more about drones please visit www.adventuredogproductions.com
[1] Harold Rosenberg, The De-Definition of Art, (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1972), p. 11.
[2] Michael Newman, Drawing Time: Tacita Dean’s Narratives of Inscription, Enclave Review (Spring 2013), pp. 5-9.