The Connor Brothers have quickly become one of the hottest names in contemporary art. Their works are in possession of major public and private collections worldwide, including the Victoria and Albert Museum, the Penguin Collection and the collections of Omar Koch or Niarcho. They have also had sold-out exhibitions in Los Angeles and Sydney and curated the performance of Pussy Riot in Banksy’s Dismaland exhibition in 2015.
The Connor Brothers use collages to undermine the meanings of old master paintings and old romance novels, and take a cynical and haunting look at contemporary culture. Their work reinterprets objects from the past, providing a humorous, playful twist on contemporary societies’ obsession with wealth, fame and the unrealistic idealism of human relationships.
The duo “The Connor Brothers” are fictional characters, a pseudonym. The couple broke into the art world in 2012, when Franklyn and Brendan Connor, escaping a Christian cult that had cut them off from modern society as children. After fleeing at the age of 16, they were bombarded with new images and experiences that they found difficult to understand. In their efforts to create order, they processed the new world with the help of sketchbooks, from which a series of paintings would eventually emerge. These pieces were in turn sold in auction houses and galleries around the world.
The Connor Brothers work beyond the canvas, blending truth and artistry to both delight and disorient their audience. GALERIE FRANK FLUEGEL has had the duo in its program since 2019. Every interaction with their work plays with emotions, reality and the need for distraction.
Their success eventually made history an obstacle, so they revealed themselves but kept their stage name. Although their identity became known, the fictional biography can still be found everywhere, alongside the art they jointly develop as a form of therapy.
After the duo maintained this fictional biography for over 18 months, The Connor Brothers decided to break out of cover and reveal their true identities, Mike Snelle and James Golding. This revelation led to a huge increase in sales, as their works were sold at major international auctions together with contemporary masters.
While The Connor Brothers is best known for their Pulp Fiction series – a host of Mills and Boon inspired characters quoting Oscar Wilde, Shakespeare and George Bernard Shaw – the couple are not afraid to get into real trouble.
SELECTED COLLECTIONS:
The Victoria & Albert Museum, London
The Penguin Books Art Collection
The Niarchos Collection
The Omer Koc Collection
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