McPherson, Kansas, United States, 1933.
He was one of the pioneers at the forefront of experimental cinema, and one of the standout artists of the post-war period. His unpredictable and unclassifiable spirit still continue to bewitch us, provoking and drawing us in. Connoisseur of the hallmarks of classical and avant-garde cinema, he felt an inclination for the hybrid product. He vociferously opposed academicism and formal education syllabuses. He developed a quick editing method that would define his oeuvre. He incorporated images from a variety of sources and added his own 16mm footage. He was renowned for his movies in which he created a unique visual montage through skilful and ground-breaking editing of the footage on-hand. His films, although they join together fragments of unlinked footage, seem to offer visual continuity, owing to, partly, a powerful musical accompaniment. They pay homage to the advances of cinematographic premieres in which visual and sound effects often surpass narrative logic.
He stood out for techniques such as “blending” and Found footage. He also worked in other spheres, such as drawing, sculpture, printing, collage, cinema, performance and photography. He was endowed with great skills to create objects of notable visual presence.
He concerned himself with heated topics in American society: consumption and the nuclear threat. His movies focused on unsettling yet wholly current subject matters. He unmasked social and political messages hidden in the news, education shorts and pornographic films. He also worried about intellectual property, copyright and genuine creativity.
Conner boasts an unrivalled cinematographic repertoire with editing techniques such as the tour-de-force, visual comedy and apocalyptical topics. Conner envisaged this piece as a metaphysical search for renewal beyond the natural and ephemeral worlds.
He died in 2008 in San Francisco, California.
Works in the collection: