AMEDEO MODIGLIANI The Haunted Studio series

" .. Magically, Connor whisks away the artifice of art history to forge some deeper connections, and makes us smile all the while." - Eric P. Nash - The New York Times ( read complete review )

A new entry in The Haunted Studio series, this is a tribute to Amedeo Modigliani (1884-1920). Although his best work was done in Paris during World War I, he was born in Italy, and has been considered the best Italian artist of the 20th century. A marvelous draughtsman, he was influenced by Cezanne, Picasso and African sculpture, with strong echoes of 16th century Italian Mannerism. The handsome creator of some of the most erotic nudes in art history, his short life was marked by poverty, dissipation, and disease.

The Haunted Studio series is an homage to the extraordinary artists in whose intimidating shadow I work and play. Beginning with self-portraits of Rembrandt, Van Gogh and Cezanne, and others, it now expands to include familiar faces from famous paintings, saints, cardinals, popes, kings and just ordinary people.

For me, to copy is more than to study, or to piggy-back on the glory of the past -- it’s a kind of time-travel, fantasy encounters with heroes, letting me tread some halting steps along the path they walked. It deepens a sense of empathy with both the artists and their subjects, who, in the long history of time, were here just yesterday.

Peter Hoving’s new 13 minute video essay about my work, The Haunted Studio of Russell Connor, was selected for the 26th Festival of Films on Art (2008), Montreal, View a web version here (broadband required)