We can't believe Conor Harrington hasn't been on the Radio Juxtapoz podcast before. The 3x cover artist has been a symbol for our magazine for the last 15 years or so, an artist who learned his chops as a teenager on the streets as a graffiti writer, honed those skills in art school and then found a way to combine the two worlds into his fine art practice. For years, Conor has been painting these scenes of reenactors' playing out their great fantasy of pageantry and tradition. But Conor paints the conflict of this tragic play: what we reenact is a history that denies progress and acceptance, that the uniforms and adornments of our past stop us from living into the present and future.
On this episode of the Radio Juxtapoz podcast, we sit down with Conor in Los Angeles just as his new solo show, When the Ship Goes Down, was about to open at CONTROL Gallery. It seemed like a ripe time to speak with the Irish-born, London-based artist about his unique history with the global rise of street art, how and where he found his aesthetic voice and the urgency he feels now to paint.
The Radio Juxtapoz podcast is hosted by FIFTH WALL TV's Doug Gillen and Juxtapoz editor, Evan Pricco. Episode 108 was recorded on March 29, 2023 in Los Angeles. Follow us on @radiojuxtapoz