conor mcgregor

Jordan won the Young Artists National Open Art Awards ‘17 with this coloured drawing.

​

"I use hyperrealism for several reasons: I think striping down art to a simple pencil and paper is very visually powerful; I love the detail in my work and how I’m transported to another world while drawing; and hyperrealism is not simply a replication of reality, rather it goes beyond (‘hyper’) what’s real, and allows the viewer to actually see and experience more.

 

One of my biggest inspirations, artist Kelvin Okafor, was the one who taught me to really ‘draw’. By that I don’t just mean the process of skilfully drawing faces, but deeply connecting with your subject to the point that you feel as if you know them, studying the intricacies of their face (e.g how many hairs they have in their eyebrows), their emotions, their essence, and then being able to convey that. 

​

It is this that I’ve taken from him and built into my practice, which has taken me on this journey that ended with my final piece – a 23 by 32 inch hyperrealist drawing of McGregor. Boxers and UFC fighters are typically seen as tough and fearless, however this drawing attempts to subvert that by stripping Conor down to the nude and showing him as not only similar to everyone else, but also as vulnerable. His stance in the drawing balances his powerful boxer side and his exposed human side."