Cubist Figures Wade into the Shadowy Depths of Connor Addison’s Allegories

With light inevitably comes darkness, a dualism Barcelona-based artist Connor Addison (previously) finds endlessly intriguing. “We so often forget to embrace the shadow as it’s presumed unloveable or is invisible,” he says.

Addison pulls at what he finds “in the space between our joy, passion, conscious thought and our fear…what lies in the shadows of our mind.” He often begins a painting with an inquiry or thought that turns into an allegory. “Brothers II,” for example, came from the following questions: “What is a sibling relationship? How do play and manipulation function between siblings?”

“Brothers II” (2024), 260 x 161 centimeters

“Visualisation can be so spontaneous,” he adds. “The whole painting just emerges while brushing my teeth for example.”

Working in muted palettes of earth tones, Addison renders cubist figures with pointed flesh and geometric limbs. Stripping away clothing and distinctive facial features appeals to universal feelings and emotions, like unconditional love, anguish, and curiosity. He adds:

I like the idea that someone 2,000 years in the future or past would still find a work meaningful and intelligible, perhaps even on an alien planet! Allegory is a powerful thing. Its popularity died as religion fell out of vogue, and we became more literate, but I love a story captured in image. It can say so much more than the word.

Addison is preparing for his next solo show with Aktion Art in 2026. Follow his work on Instagram.

a nude woman lies with a dog on a red floor
“How Long Must This Silence Echo” (2021), oil on linen, 140 x 89 centimeters
a nude woman with her back to the viewer leans up against one of three trees growing in the center of a building. their canopies breach the roof
“Mother, Mother” (2021), oil on linen, 150 x 150 centimeters
a painting of a long colonnade with nude people in anguish and fighting
“The Conversation” (2023), oil on Linen, 260 x 183 centimeters
a painting of a nude woman with long blonde hair wrapped in pink cord in front of a drastically pointed building
“Becoming Myself Without Any End” (2024), 263 x 142 centimeters
a painting on a gallery wall of a figure emerging from a hole in the ground with a red concrete like surface surrounding them
“Something From Nothing” (2023), oil and watercolor on linen, 400 x 200 centimeters