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Arch Conelly

Arch Connelly

Chicago, Illinois 1950 - New York 1992

http://www.dailyegyptian.com/spring96/041696/artist.html

Acclaimed artist's work now on display at SIUC By James Lyon DE Features Editor

The world looks a little different through the eye of a kaleidoscope. Colors and objects from nearby are transformed into an array resembling something brilliant. And to look at the artwork of the late Arch Connelly is like seeing the world through kaleidoscope-colored eyes.

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Connelly, who graduated from SIUC in 1973 with a bachelor's in ceramics, died in 1993 as a result of complications arising from the AIDS virus.

During his life he became an internationally acclaimed artist with a unique style of using everyday objects, such as pennies, costume jewelry and broken eggshells, and transforming them into something beautiful.

"He was a very exuberant and outgoing individual," Arch's brother Dan Connelly, who graduated from SIUC in 1979, said. "Arch was very flamboyant and extremely enthusiastic and was not afraid to state his opinion, whether it was about how soup tasted or about the clothes people were wearing.

"Art was always a part of his life as far back as I can remember, and he was always very passionate about it. I think his work kind of reflects that."

Connelly said Arch moved to San Francisco after college but moved to New York when he had the opportunity to put his work on display. He said he worked at restaurants for a while until he made enough as an artist to do it full time, selling pieces throughout New York as well as to people in Europe.

"Arch absolutely loved it," he said. "It was a period when he was finally getting recognized for his work, which was something he loved to do."

John Whitlock, director of the University Museum, described Connelly's work as highly decorative with a flamboyant look at things some people might consider gaudy.

"It is a very colorful and unique assemblage," he said. "He would take things like costume jewelry and beads, which might look tacky in some situations, and put them together into collages that are really quite remarkable."

Whitlock said by looking at Connelly's work, there does not seem to be much of an evolution, but instead there seems to be a drastic difference in style.

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"Some of his pieces do not look like a natural movement between styles," he said. "It looks more like they represent his state of mind at the time. His work seems to bounce back and forth between different styles just like a person might go back and forth between emotions."

Whitlock said the work toward the end of Connelly's life was very bright and cheerful.

Connelly agreed, saying Arch handled his disease very well.

"It bothered him a little, but not as much as someone might think," Connelly said. "During the times he was feeling well, he was his usual self. There were moments went he got depressed, but that was expected. He was not as morbid as some people might expect."

Connelly said Arch was in a car wreck after he graduated college, and that bothered him more than his disease. He said there was a time when Arch would not drive anywhere if he could help it, and his art from the time always had some kind of automotive aspect to it.

Whitlock said the display at SIUC is the last stop in a tour of university museums in Illinois, and Connelly said the artwork will be returned to the family after the display ends May 31.

"Right now there are no plans for a permanent display anywhere, so his works will be put up in family members' houses," he said. "I am very glad that the display is going on at Southern because that school was a very special time for Arch. It was his passion for SIU that made me choose to go there. It was kind of important for Arch to have a display at the school because of his ties to it, and it was always something he had wanted.

"When you look at a cut stone, you can see many different aspects depending where you look," he said. "That same idea applies to Arch's work, and it also applies to his life. When you look at his work, you are pretty much looking at the type of person Arch was."