Jake Conner
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2024
Vexotic Art Show - Solo Exhibition in McConnell Library, Radford University, Radford, VA
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2025
Radford Art Show, Radford University, Radford, VA - "Skinsect"
35 under 35, Miller off Main, Blacksburg, VA - "Airburst"
Menagerie 2025, Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley, Pulaski, VA - "Lacrimosa", "Drinking Buddies"
Floyd New Works, Floyd Center for the Arts, Floyd, VA - "Skinsect", "Masculinity by Proxy"
NRV Biennial, Moss Arts Center, Blacksburg, VA - “Screaming Skies: Cold Blooded Greed”
POLARITY, Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley, Pulaski, VA - “Crepuscular”
Love in Many Colors, Art on 1st, Roanoke, VA - “Portrait of Savannah,” “Lovebomb”
Radford Student Show, Radford University, Radford, VA - “In Lieu of Flowers,” “Screaming Skies: Cold Blooded Greed,” “I Liked You More When You Hated Yourself”
2024
Make Your Mark, Floyd Center for the Arts, Floyd, VA - “Predisposition”
Menagerie 2024, Fine Arts Center for the New River Valley, Pulaski, VA - “In Lieu of Flowers,” “Screaming Skies: Cold Blooded Greed”
Radford Art Show, Radford University, Radford, VA - “Loveletter”
Student Art Exhibition, Radford University, Radford, VA - “Egress”
Radford Library Mini Museum, Radford University, Radford, VA - “Causality”
2023
SDS Show, Radford University, Radford, VA - “In My Blood,” “Obscenity”
Jake Conner’s Artist Statement:
I am a 28-year-old artist and an alumni of Radford University. I have been creating art since I could use my hands. I have used art to survive every struggle that I have endured, as it has been with me during my highs and my rock-bottom lows. I am in recovery, with over two years of hard-fought sobriety. Since finding myself and becoming sober, I have become a prolific painter and craftsman. I could not have recovered without art to guide me, and I owe a great deal to those who have instructed me and learned with me at Radford University. My love is with oil paint, but I am a multidisciplinary artist proficient in charcoal drawing, oil and acrylic painting, sculpture, digital painting, and I will add more to that list. I build all of my own canvases and find immense purpose in every step of the process of what I do.
My work deals with themes of beauty and grotesque, the sacred and profane.
What do we find to be alluring and hideous? How do we temper our reactions to aesthetic extremes? I explore the relationships of repulsive and attractive qualities in my paintings and other work, as well as the absurdity and unknowns of human consciousness.
My relationship with art is intimately tied to my healing process. When I started my recovery journey, the act of making is what kept me safe and sane. It was a warm light in a cold and dreary place. It became clear to me that artmaking was the key to sobriety and the only way to get back to sanity. As it led me to a much healthier and happier life, my work improved and recovered with me.
Aesthetic extremes.
Oil paintings, charcoal drawings, portraits, illustrations, digital art, sculptures, creative writings.