Stephen Conroy

Stephen Conroy’s paintings appeared in an exhibition at the Scottish National Gallery of Modern Art in 1987, while he was still a student. Drawing on the figurative Glasgow tradition, Old Master paintings and the work of Degas and Sickert, Conroy concentrates on depicting the male figure, either alone or in groups. His paintings of the 1980s have a strange and theatrical atmosphere, leading the viewer to question the narrative of the painting, which is often enigmatic. From the late 1990s, Conroy began to explore figures in motion, concentrating predominantly on the male figure in isolation against a plain background. Born in Helensburgh, Conroy studied at Glasgow School of Art, and lives and works in Scotland.