Fool’s Gold (2021), Connor Dowdle

This marker is the burial site of several paintings by Conor Dowdle. Fool's Gold was displayed in the Marie Walsh Sharpe Gallery of Contemporary Art as part of the 2021 Space(s) Between exhibition and then was sealed and buried. The paintings depict the funeral service of a family member whose life was lost during the covid pandemic. The church pictured is sparsely populated by masked clergy and few family members. The artist attended the funeral virtually, inspiring these buried paintings. This is the only work from the Space(s) Between exhibition that will remain on permanent display at the Ent Center for the Arts. 

According to Dowdle, “This project is about reorganizing a specific saga in my personal history, which is being depicted through representational painting then collected and later contained within the earth.” 

Conor Dowdle’s paintings begin as observational sketches made outside of the studio. He then translates, refines, exaggerates, or distills these drawings into oil paintings. He employs a variety of color palettes, gestures, and rendering techniques in his work. Dowdle is interested in the way this variety of approaches and techniques encourages multiple interpretations of artworks with similar subject matter. 

Audio by Avery Jam, for the Galleries of Contemporary Art at UCCS, 2023.