March 6, 2024

Mark Connors’ Lobsters

Being immersed in Nature has always been critical to Mark Connors’ artistic and spiritual well-being

Mark Connors has been painting a lot of lobsters lately, mostly in strong primary colours — reds and blues, with rich textural effects. Retired, single again and living in an Acadian fishing village on an island off the coast of Cape Breton, this was never the answer to ‘where do you see yourself in five years?’ But Mark has settled in and is back into painting after a long hiatus, his inspiration and entry point being the bleached lobster bodies and other debris he’s found washed up on the shore. Pivoting from the abstract expressionism of his earlier work in the 1990’s, “I turned toward more representational art to tell the story more directly of lobster fishing and Acadian culture.”

There is much to energize an artist here. From the dormer window of his studio on the third floor of his foursquare style house in Petit-de-grat you can see the bridge, the deep blue water at the head of the harbour, colorful fishing boats, rugged rocky outcrops and hardy, scrubby plants. And he’s been bringing the environment indoors, renovating his house with carefully chosen found objects, reclaimed wood for cabinets, driftwood railings, and live-edge scrap from a local lumber mill for trim to make the house his own to stunning original effect.

Nutcracker Suite or A Tough Nut to Crack — A visual metaphor for solving life’s problems. Here a metallic-looking silvery lobster claw grasps a hex nut. Almost like a toothed jaw the claw bears down on the nut with the surrounding splashes of pigment expressing and accentuating the force. The gesso base provides texture and the intense blue paint close to the bottom edge of the claw image makes the image pop. A simple form like a lobster claw can be used to express many ideas and emotions.

A relative newcomer to Cape Breton, Mark has been living here full time for a couple of years now. Originally from Sudbury, Ontario, he and his then wife bought the house here three years ago motivated by a tip from a neighbour back in Huntsville that property was cheap here. Eventually he and his wife parted ways. He got the house here and is now enthusiastically exploring his environment and finding his way.

Lobsters claws — Some of Mark’s inspiration found on the beaches around Isle Madame. During his many beachcombing outings he has collected seven (and counting) lobster shells and they inspired him to start painting again after a long interlude.

The need to be immersed in Nature

Being immersed in Nature has always been critical to his development both artistically and intellectually. As a child he loved to explore the natural world on a minute scale. He showed us an old microscope that he had kept from his youth and a slide that he made of a flea. It was a rich red brown colour and beautiful in its complexity. It was obvious how studying Nature in this way informs his very detailed and precise art work in the present.

“I always loved being in Nature,” he said. “When I was a kid I used to hunt crayfish in the streams.” He says he even kept one in an aquarium over the winter, feeding it turtle food. Flea, crayfish, lobster. There seems to be a progression of invertebrate study and appreciation here.

Mark Connors’ painting tools and the microscope he’s had since he was a teenager.

He says if his art does anything he would like it to inspire people to get out of their cars or boats and get their boots on the ground or their feet into the water. As an adult Mark bought a place off-grid near Huntsville, about three hours from Toronto, where he could be as close to pure Nature as one can. But he went further. He said, “I love Nature so much when I was 25 I had to go to the Galapagos Islands.” The Galapagos was made famous by naturalist Charles Darwin’s trip in the HMS Beagle. “What a place. You know, the tortoises there, the Blue Footed Boobies… the Flightless Cormorants. Just beautiful.”

Painting is his primary creative outlet

Trained as a graphic designer back in the pre-computer days, he has had several periods in his life where painting dominated. Other creative outlets he has are writing fiction and poetry, furniture making and music. And home reno. His painting, though, has had the most success. He’s had shows in Toronto, Huntsville, Bracebridge, Sudbury and Whitefish Falls where he received an award and has also been included in a book, The Willisville Mountain Project: Rock, Spirit, Art. The book was about protecting part of the Northern Ontario La Cloche mountain range from being quarried.

The energy of this abstract expressionist piece is reminiscent of Gerhard Richter and Jackson Pollock, two painters that Mark admires. Thick layered texture and spontaneous bold brush strokes create a frame and draw the viewer deeper into the interior where more colour and dimension emerges.

His painting has been largely abstract expressionism. He enjoys exploring the viscosity of his paints using a controlled action painting. He sent us some photos of these and the frame within frame style of some older works invite you to focus on the ‘contents’. On his walls were also abstract paintings of forms that suggested microscopic organisms and some experimental paintings of garden vegetables — carrots and parsnips in which he used the actual top leaves to create a 3D textural effect. And a simple painting of a heart, akin to an ace of hearts playing card, hung on his studio wall where he can see it while working and had the simple message — broken heart is mended.

Severing Ties — This blue acrylic monochrome over a textured gesso base makes a statement about the ending of a relationship. Two lobsters are both severing their mutually connected antennae and each are left with a shortened pair. The most saturated colour is between the claws and also surrounds the head accentuating the negative space of the lobster body shapes.

Lobsters in blue

His latest style though, is more representational. The lobsters he’s depicted are carefully rendered but the controlled gestural action painting is still there. Sometimes you have to get right in there and look at the small details but it’s well worth the exploration.

One of our favourites was the two lobsters facing one another. Called Cutting Ties, the lobsters are each severing the antennae of the other with their pincers. The palette is monochrome cobalt blue. One feels compelled to examine them almost scientifically. Of course most lobsters aren’t blue, but one is reminded of Mark’s passion for microscopy and how one dyes a specimen to better examine it, to make it vivid.

Mark Connors in his third story studio in Petit-de-grat.

Now that he has his studio finished he is full of ideas for artwork. Moving from painting details to a bigger picture, in the future Mark would like to paint more landscapes in an abstract impressionist style. He also would like to try sculpture, even a large, standup lobster claw. “Maybe out of something cheap at first, like concrete,” he said.

As to where you can find the work he has done, the answer is nowhere yet. Mark is still exploring venues. He’s painting regularly in his third floor studio and wants to find some places to show his stuff here in Cape Breton, maybe at local markets. Or he might venture to Halifax to find a gallery that’s the right fit. And, he mused, he might even start a small gallery of his own in his garage by the road in Petit-de-grat. That would make his art a part of the environment here. But he’s not quite ready yet.

Editor’s note: artwork photography in the post courtesy of Mark Connors. Other photos are by Archie Nadon.

A Small Gallery of Connors' Work

This rendering of an ammonite fossil vibrates with the juxtaposition of blue and red tones. Delicate background texture creates volume and an almost 3-D effect. His detailed and intimate knowledge of the natural world is revealed in this carefully painted image.

Cooked lobsters are red. This one is deep burgundy, painted in textured layers showing the intricate parts that allow movement of the claw. A spontaneous spatter of green paint close under the claw reminds us that this creature was once green and alive and suggests the idea that control versus letting go is part of an artist’s continuum of technique.

Lobster trap wood table. This table is made from lobster trap wood parts foraged on the beaches around Isle Madame, driftwood and wood scraps he found stored in his new home. Mark says, “The happenstance and synchronicity of found objects gives meaning and makes them more precious.” And also, in this case, new purpose and aesthetic enjoyment.

This is the Throat Chakra, the fifth painting in Mark’s series of the chakras or energy centres of the body. Turquoise in colour and located in the centre of the neck, it ignites the ability to speak and articulate clearly. A Sanskrit letter representing the chakra is central, surrounded by a multi-petaled lotus, symbol of unfolding consciousness in a background of light green suggesting growth.

Lobster claws. Boiled, eaten, discarded at the water’s edge then bleached by the sun these two claws are part of the same animal.The larger crusher claw is used to break up hard food like clams or crabs and the smaller pincer claw is used to tear apart softer food like worms or fish. Mark doesn’t eat lobster or crab and prefers mackerel but he’s still learning all about them by scavenging on the beach.The claws are translucent pink suspended in an ever deepening blue sea. Random splatters at the top descend into careful overlapping saturated brushstrokes.

Carrotation — This whimsical experiment in textural collage uses a real carrot top embedded in and covered in acrylic paint. The circular design evokes a feeling of completion from root to leaves, from planting to harvest under a full moon. The bright orange carrot with its deep green leaves protrudes from the intense blue background like an invitation for the viewer to touch it.