Connor Maguire
Portrait of a Modern Family, 2018
Oil on canvas, 90 x 90 cm
"Portrait of a Modern Family is my portrayal of family life in 2018. With demanding work roles, the daily school run, appointments on all sides meeting punctual timelines, trying to maintain order within a family can feel impossible at times. Digital technology has taken over, with social media infecting all of us in one form or another, and there is a lack of interaction and connection within the family. My painting shows a true reflection of what our house can look like most days at dinner time, as we try to maintain order in what looks like a chaotic scene. Everyone is focusing their attention in opposite directions, looking elsewhere rather than facing each other sitting round a dinner table. The mother is unwinding after a full day’s work, focussing her attention on a newspaper while eating dinner. The boy in the red shirt is focussed on his tablet while eating his dinner completely disconnected from everyone in the room. The youngest child, who the father is trying to please, is focusing on the television, waiting for his favourite children’s channel to come on. The father is, at the same time, helping to prepare dinner for all after just returning home."
Connor Maguire was born in Belfast in 1977 and studied at the University of Ulster. He has been working steadily as a freelance artist in all media from watercolours to oils, printmaking in the form of woodcuts, linocuts and drawing in charcoal and graphite. He has exhibited at the RHA and RUA and was shortlisted for Artist of the Year (2017) in association with Artist & Illustrators Magazine, exhibiting in the Mall Galleries, London for the second time. Connor continues to concentrate and develop his artistic practice painting and drawing in portraiture.