Glenn Connelly is a New York based artist who works with various mediums such as acrylic, pastel, gouache, pencil, pen, collage, and other media. The surface material can be canvas, wood, paper, stone, and even metal.
Because Glenn has worked extensively with paper as the primary surface material,
this specialization has resulted in a collection of over 100 paintings completed on paper over the past
20 years. The works are diverse in subject matter, style and technique. The paintings
revolve around a stylized representation, not realism. This website exhibits many unique paintings on paper the artist has completed. The artworks on this site contain only works on paper.
Incised and sculptural paintings
Glenn's paintings using paper as the surface have evolved over the years from flat paintings painted on commercial paper to paintings on Glenn's handmade paper. Glenn has invented techniques for adding incredible detail to thick paper while it is still wet. The techniques used create texture and sculptural qualities for the surface to be painted. No molds are used to produce the paper or the sculptural detail.
The artist's sculptural paintings are literally sculptural pieces with texture, depth, height,
and color as the key characteristics.
The techniques used to create these paintings is
analogous to sculpting combined with painting. The paper is incised and built up to
create texture and depth and then painted. One technique involves incising multiple tiny patterns by hand into
paper plates producing a result similar to chasing and repousse. The incised patterns vary
in shape, design, size and even texture. In some paintings the incised patterns add depth to
an otherwise flat painting, whereas in many other paintings, small incised patterns create
multiple patterns inside larger patterns inside the overall image. The unique result of the
incising technique is that the effect of light and shadow on the paint produces two tones for each color.
This technique is unique as it is all done by hand with hand tools. No molds are used. The artworks are very involved and can take months to complete for the largest paintings.
Artist Statement
I place my works into four painting style categories. These styles are called flat painting, flat +
incised sculptural painting, incised sculptural painting, and cut paper painting. It is how I use the paper
surface in my artwork that distinguishes them from each other and thus places them into one
of the four categories. The flat category involves painting on commercial paper with acryclic paint, ink, water color paint, and other mediums.
The flat + incised sculptural category combines flat paintings with painted hand-made paper, of which has depth and sculptural qualities, and often other objects such as wire,
rocks, feathers, etc.
The incised sculptural category includes paintings where the entire piece is made from incised and sculptured handmade paper that is painted with various mediums.
The cut paper category are pieces that use cut commercial paper and/or cut handmade paper to create even more sculptural pieces.
Chronologically, the first painting style implemented was in the flat category then
followed by flat + incised sculptural, then incised sculptural and finally the cut paper category.
However, artworks created since 2012 can be created in any of the style categories.
The most important category to me though is everything starting after my flat artwork style. This is
where I started to make handmade paper and the subsequent techniques developed have
shaped all of my art pieces from that point forward. As you can see from the artworks on this site, it has been the
culmination of years of studies and experimentation that has brought me to where I am today
with my style and techniques.
All of my paintings are deliberately diversified in subject matter, they include abstracts,
allegorical, animals, flowers, landscape, figurative, and aerial views of the Earth. Some are flat
in appearance whereas others are sculptural. I am interested in a stylized representation, not
realism. Often it is the subject matter that dictates the direction that the piece should take and
what painting style category it should fall into. My style is directly influenced by my previous
experience as a fashion designer where creating a clothing collection involved a variety of
styles and attention to detail and color were important at all times.
All artworks are copyrighted between 1999 and 2023 to Glenn Connelly and can not be used for commercial purposes without consent.
