Bruce Conner

Bruce Conner was a highly versatile American artist who made significant contributions to various art forms, including assemblage, film, drawing, sculpture, painting, collage, and photography.  

Biography of Bruce Conner

Bruce Conner was born on November 18, 1933, in McPherson, Kansas. He attended Wichita University (now Wichita State University) and later the University of Nebraska, where he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1956. During his time as a student, he had the opportunity to visit New York City, which left a lasting impact on his artistic pursuits.

His early career in the mid-1950s and early 1960s was marked by exploration in various media. He studied at the Brooklyn Museum Art School on a scholarship in 1955. In 1956, he held his first solo gallery show in New York City, which featured paintings.

San Francisco became a significant backdrop for his artistic growth, where he held solo shows in 1958 and 1959, showcasing a diverse range of art forms, including paintings, drawings, prints, collages, assemblages, and sculptures.

Conner also ventured into creating short films in the late 1950s. Notably, he named his films in all capital letters, and his initial and perhaps most renowned work was titled "A Movie" (1958).

Bruce Conner's Art Style

Conner's creative output spanned a range of forms starting in the 1960s. He played an active role in the San Francisco counterculture during the mid-1960s, collaborating on light shows at the iconic Family Dog venue at the Avalon Ballroom. Additionally, he created intricate black-and-white mandala-like drawings using the then-new felt-tip pens. Many of these drawings were later lithographed into prints in the early 1970s.

In the 1970s, Bruce Conner's focus shifted to drawing and photography, with a particular interest in capturing the emerging West Coast punk rock scene. 

Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Conner continued to create collages, incorporating religious imagery and inkblot drawings into his body of work. This recurring religious symbolism emphasized the visionary nature of his art.

In 1999, a significant monograph titled "2000 BC: The Bruce Conner Story, Part II" was published to accompany a traveling exhibition of his work. The exhibition showcased Conner's films, assemblages, drawings, collages, and conceptual pieces.