Connor DANIELS

I want to push the boundaries of how people view themselves as well as others. My main focus is the relationship between technology, the human body and how that contributes to one's identity.

In each of my artworks I try to convey in a figurative and sometimes in a surreal way, the theory or Trans-Humanism. Trans-Humanism being the theory and philosophy of the amalgamation of Human and machine.

Trans-humanism is seen every day and can enhance the body, make up for a specific deficiency or be used purely for cosmetic purposes. Body modification leads most people to think of tattoos and piercings which does fall into that category but it can also include prosthetic limbs, machines such as a pacemaker to help your heart.

It is also a very controversial subject being based upon the modification of the human body, when out in practice in the real world people can be very torn but looking at the research there's a bit of dark humor which again suits me and that is the nature of body modification to subvert and interrogate and challenge the limitations of the body.

My heavily detailed works grapple with aspects of myself that I can impart into the paper, each artwork is created with a ballpoint pen which I feel is the essence of the majority of my life as an artist. The ballpoint pen I feel is one of the most versatile as well as readily available tools in order to create artworks or to just write down random thoughts on a page. Because of the heavy amount of detail I have chosen to place the artworks in the centre of a large page in order to get more space to draw and still have space around the drawing to give breathing room and further emphasis the detail as well as create the effect reminiscent of a religious icon for contemporary times where we literally cannot live without technology.