Conolan Places Extra Precious in Paintings

By Jay Scott Kanes

Not every day do you meet someone who happens to carry a painting valued at US$700,000 and who plans to become “the biggest contemporary artist of all time”.

Abstract expressionist David Edward Conolan, from Broome, Australia, has made substantial progress at building an art-world empire from which he devotes much of the revenue to humanitarian projects.

Only an ultra-innovative artist can create precious objects of a sort rarely seen. Yet 39-year-old Conolan, who leads Conolan Art Proprietary Ltd (www.conolanart.com.au), does so routinely, mainly by using gemstones, pearls and valuable metals in unique paintings. “I wanted to do something never done before,” he said.

Vibrant and ambitious, he operates galleries in Australia, Germany and Fiji. Many of his works carry six-figure US-dollar prices. Since first painting nearly eight years ago, he has staged 80 solo exhibitions and sold about 2,000 artworks. His biggest commissions call for hundreds of works for hotels in Australia and the United Arab Emirates.

Conolan, wife Deb (a “traditional” artist) and teenage son Paddy (who does an occasional painting) have taken up residence on Lamma Island in Hong Kong during OzArt 2007, an unusual exhibition of Australian art until May 9 at the Fringe Club Gallery in the city’s Central Business District.

The most mind-boggling artwork on offer at OzArt 2007 is one of Conolan's paintings, titled Precious and encrusted with diamonds, sapphires, rubies, emeralds, topaz, opals, pearls, silver and gold. The price is a mere HK$5.48 million (more than US$700,000).

OzArt 2007 also features aboriginal artist David Dryden and free expressionist Derek Erskine. On May 2, Murray Cobban, Australia’s consul-general based in Hong Kong, joins the artists for a special reception beginning at 6 p.m. For two days, May 5 and 6, OzArt expands to the Bridge Room at the Aberdeen Boat Club on Hong Kong Island.

“I want to establish a presence in Hong Kong,” Conolan said. “I like the place. There’s an unusual busy-ness, a rare energy. It’s different from Australia, where everything’s vast with desert and rocks. My gallery in Broome is 700 kilometers from the next town. People fly in to buy paintings.”

Conolan heightens Australia’s reputation for its intriguing, unusual and eccentric people: “I’m one of them, mate.”

In past collections, he placed 27,000 South Sea pearls, hundreds of diamonds, a kilo of pure silver, plenty of gold and hundreds of gemstones. On “pearl paintings” of dragons, he sometimes added Chinese script.

“We’ve received 100 sheets of 24-carat fine gold from Germany,” he said. “Each year I like to do something different. Now I’m using gold and silver-leaf in paintings. I’ve brought my first collection of gold-leaf paintings to Hong Kong – two dozen pieces just dry. I’m known for abstract-flower paintings. I brought some of those, plus cockatoos and fish, even one of my jam-packed pieces containing 400 diamonds and 5,000 carats of emeralds, sapphires and rubies. That one costs a bit to buy.”

Earlier, his Outback Collection had barbed wire, fence posts and broken glass. Sometimes he works on race-cars, reborn as “art vehicles”.

“I try to have fun, and that’s when my art flows,” Conolan said. “I paint only when I want, and then everything’s fresh, new and impulsive.”

Each painting takes about a week. “But I can’t work on just one at a time,” he said. “I need 10 to 30 on the go to keep me interested.”

What lures the buyers? “Happiness,” Conolan said. “Some buy for my name, but most want a painting because they love it. They need to find something that touches them in each piece of art they buy.”

Conolan dropped a clothing-design career for “a journey of pure visual delight”. He and Deb devoted several years to “self-funded humanitarian work”, usually holding events for seriously ill children. Then he needed “something to give me the power, money and influence to continue with humanitarian work. So I started the art.”

This unusual artist stages special auctions and contributes the proceeds to TLC For Kids (in Melbourne), New Hope (a leper colony in India) and other charitable organizations. “I love doing humanitarian work,” he said. “As I give out blessings, more come back – they all flow around.”

With Deb expecting another child soon, Conolan stresses that art nicely supports his family too. “You need to fill your own cup as well,” he said.

How does the artist describe his success so far? “It’s been pretty awesome. No other Australian artist has sold so much early in a career. I always try to do things that are really ‘out there’. I’m never afraid to ‘have a go’.

“A lot of artists are scared. They’re afraid of criticism, but that’s the world. Some people hate my work, but I don’t care. My advice to anyone starting to be an artist is always to get the work out there – into restaurants, hotels, anywhere. Down the track, I’d like to open a series of galleries for artists who aren’t represented.”

As a boy, Conolan showed no artistic talent. “I hated art,” he recalled. “But once I touched my first canvas (in 1999), ‘a bolt of lightning hit’ and I knew I’d found an important gift. I realized that if I could love art, then I could make anyone love it.”

He keeps his first paintings – abstracts using fabrics left from his clothing-industry days.

“At first, I struggled to buy paint. Now I get to use precious metals in my paintings. I love it.” That’s progress.

ARCHIVES

Artist David Conolan and wife Deb
'feel at home' in Hong Kong.


The artist carries his Precious painting
on Hong Kong Island's mean streets.


Encrusted with jewels, the painting Precious
went on offer at more than US$700,000.


Conolan feels Hong Kong's energy,
even on serene Lamma Island.


The artist displays a pearl painting.


Conolan climbs in the art world.


For Conolan, art has become
a means to fund good causes.


Surveying new turf, Conolan
ponders prospects in Hong Kong.