He moved within the East-Village and Patterns & Decoration, a trend that from the middle of the 70s, in contrast with the minimal and conceptual movements, asserted in America with its opulent and transgressive energy, full of hints to the various craft and popular arts. His extreme “iperdecorative” vocation for embellishing banal and “quality-less” objects belonging to everyday life goes back to the Pop Art American tradition.
Last stage “New Baroque” takes Connely to an ephemeral hyperbole, to a theatrical apology. As a result painting is transformed into a high-class painting that goes beyond Pollock and Stella’s overburdened refinement, in order to dive into an atmosphere of fin de siécle.
Solo exhibitions
1990
Arch Connelly, galleria La Giarina, Verona1987
56 Bleeker Gallery, New York CityHokin/Kaufman Gallery, Chicago, Illinois
Galleria Murnik, Milano
1986
Holly Solomon Gallery, , New York CityCharles Cowles Gallery, New York City
1985
Fun Gallery, New York City1984
Fun Gallery, New York City1983
Tracey Garet – Michael Kohn, New York CityFun Gallery, New York City
1981
Fun Gallery, New York City1980
Artists Space, New York CityGroup exhibitions
1989
The Center Show, Lesbian and Gay Community Center, New York CityLess is a Bore, Groninger Museum, Groningen
1988/89
Dwelling, 56 Bleeker Gallery, New York City1988
Beads, Structure and Surface, John Michael Kohler Ars Center, Sheboygan, WisconsinAgainst Nature, Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions, Los Angeles, California
1987
1987 Effetto Placebo, galleria Murnik, MilanoPhoto Collage, Physique Memoribilia, New York City
Razzle Dazzle, Lintas Worldwide Headquarters, Dag Hammarskjold Plaza, New York City
1986
East Village Exibition, Fashion Institute of Tecnology, New York CityNew York, New York: Glittering Art, Bacardi Art Gallery, Miami, Florida
Homage to Nicolas Moufarrege, Gabrielle Bryers Gallery, New York City
Holly Solomon Curates, Jaine Beggs Fine Art Ltd, Aspen, Colorado
Romanticism and Cynicism in Contemporary Art, Haggerty Museum of Art, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
1985
Precious, Grey Art Gallery, New York Unversity, New York City57th Between A and D, Holly Solomon Gallery, New York City
New York, University Art Museum, Santa Barbara, California
The East Village Scene, Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philladelphia
Anniottanta, Bologna, Imola, Ravenna, Rimini
New York, Center for Contemporary Art, Seattle, Washington
Abstract Relationships, Charles Cowles Gallery, New York City
East Village Funktional, Rosa Esman Gallery, New York City
Collage: Precursors and Forerunners, Holly Solomon Gallery, New York City
New York from New York, Sande Webster Gallery, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
A Brave New World: A New Generation / 40 New York Artists, Charlottenborg, Copenhagen, Denmark
reizende Tentoonstelling / travelled to Lunds Konsthall, Sweden
Correspondences, New York Art Now Exibition, Laforet Museum Harajuku, Tokyo
1984
House on the Borderline, White Columns, New York CityRomantic Painting, Tracey Garet, New York City
250,00 Sculptures, Civilian Warfare Gallery, New York City
New York, Larry Gagosian Gallery, Los Angeles, California
Ecstacy, Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York City
The Next Show, Yves Arman Gallery, New York City
East Villane Art in Berlin, Zellermayer, Berlin
Precious, Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, Virginia
1983
Ourhaus, Dancetaria, New York CityThree Dimensional Photographs, Castelli Graphics, New York City
Intoxication, Monique Knowlton Gallery, New York City
1982
Extended Sensibilities, New Museum, New York City1981
The Broken Surface, Tibor de Nagy Gallery, New York CityDowntown / Uptown, City Gallery of New York, New York City
Lighting, P.S. I, Long Island City, New York
New York, New Wave, P.S. I, Long Island City, New York
