Inside the Studio: Ric Conn
For expressionist painter Ric Conn, art has always been about looking beyond what is immediately visible. From discovering the power of light and shadow as a child to creating paintings that confront inequality and explore human emotion, his artistic journey has been shaped by observation, empathy, and a desire to tell meaningful stories.
With a background in lithography and graphic arts, Conn brings a strong understanding of composition, texture, and visual storytelling to his work. His paintings frequently center on women, exploring themes of strength, vulnerability, courage, and the social realities they face. Through his Women’s Equality and Empowerment series and its extension, Crucibles, he uses expressionism as a means of raising awareness and encouraging reflection.
In this week's Inside the Studio, Ric Conn speaks with Art Dealer Street about his earliest artistic discoveries, his commitment to women's empowerment, the emotional process behind his paintings, and his experience exhibiting at Clio Art Fair.
Read on to learn more in an exclusive interview with Ric Conn:
You began drawing and painting at a very young age, developing an early interest in light, shading, and freehand drawing. What first drew you toward art, and how has your creative vision evolved over the years?
I was first drawn to art around age four when my parents gave me coloring books and crayons. They told me to stay in the lines and pay attention to the colors of things. Each of these came easily to me, so I began deliberately going outside the lines and using different colors for everything.
When I was five, I came to a page in what was to be my last coloring book. It was a picture of a boy picking up an apple. We always had a bowl of fruit on the kitchen table, so I took an apple from the bowl and saw that apples are not all red and round but have many colors, patterns, and shapes.
I looked at all the colors an apple has, then on the previous page I blended crayon colors until I came to the ones on the apple. Then I used those crayons and colored a more accurate apple.
I used my arm as a model for that of the boy to get a more accurate arm, and while coloring it, I noticed the shadow on my own. When I put shadows and shading in, I discovered how things come to life on paper.
So I threw my coloring book onto the floor and started drawing and modeling everything freehand, every piece of fruit, every bottle, etc.
When my mother came in, I told her I was going to be an artist when I grew up — and I did.
Your work is often described as expressionist, with a strong focus on the female experience. What led you to make women and the realities they face in Western culture such a central subject in your practice?
To me, abuse of any kind is reprehensible.
I work mostly with female models, and the thought of any of them or my wife being abused in any way is intolerable to me. So I started my Women's Equality and Empowerment series to bring awareness to these problems.
This work brings recognition to their strength in the face of abuse. I have an extension series called Crucibles, which brings the abusers to light.
Your paintings often address inequality, social issues, courage, beauty, and hidden emotion. How do you approach creating work that is both visually powerful and socially meaningful?
Whenever I work on a social subject, I imagine myself in the scene as an observer, watching it happen — the movements, facial features, and then how I feel emotionally.
Then I do sketches in my sketchbooks to come up with the best composition that tells the story.
You work across oil, acrylic, gouache, charcoal, ink, and other media. How do you decide which material or technique best expresses the emotion or narrative behind a particular piece?
I sketch the idea, and as I am working out the composition, I think about how I am going to approach the piece and which medium I think will do the best to realize the composition.
Before fully devoting yourself to your art practice, you worked for many years as a graphic artist and lithographer. How has that background influenced your sense of composition, texture, and visual storytelling?
Lithography gave me experience in working with composition and texture.
Graphic art gave me experience in creating the compositions to best render the storytelling.
Your work explores the contrast between reality and perception, often revealing emotions or truths that may not be immediately visible. How do you translate those unseen emotional layers onto the canvas?
I put myself into the situations, visualizing in my mind the scenario and exploring how it makes me feel. Then I put my results onto the canvas.
You have received numerous awards and recognitions, including honors connected to activism, humanitarian work, and contemporary art. What does the idea of "artivism" mean to you personally?
The idea of "artivism" is using art as a powerful tool for activism.
You have participated in Clio Art Fair alongside independent artists from different backgrounds. What was that experience like for you, and how did it feel to share your work with the Clio Art Fair audience?
The experience was amazing, and I felt excited to share my work with the audience.
I have always liked sharing my work, and I have always appreciated people's reactions, whether they liked my work or hated it.
Either way, they reacted to it.
For Ric Conn, painting is more than an exercise in technique or visual expression. It is a way of confronting difficult realities, exploring the emotional dimensions of human experience, and bringing attention to stories that deserve to be seen.
From the childhood discovery of how shading could bring an image to life to his ongoing exploration of women's equality and empowerment, Conn's practice reflects a commitment to observation and storytelling. His approach begins with empathy, moves through imagination and composition, and ultimately finds expression on the canvas.
His perspective on audience reactions captures something essential about his work: art does not always need to be comfortable or universally admired to have an impact. Sometimes, its power lies simply in making someone respond.
You can learn more about Ric Conn and his work via these links: Website: Ric Conn Instagram: @fine_art_circus
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