Anna Conley: A Story of Metamorphosis
Anna Conley’s “The Invisible Man” opened at Santa Monica College’s (SMC) Emeritus Art Gallery on Jan. 18. The exhibit features nineteen pieces that weave together a story of human metamorphosis. Her work catches the eyes of passersby walking Second Street in Downtown Santa Monica, and entry is free.
For two years, “The Invisible Man” has been Conley’s passion project. Conley paints her subject, the invisible man, in different stages of his life, including in his youth, the present, in death, and reborn again as a man free from illness. Conley did not initially know where the inspiration for her character came from and had no end goal in sight for the story that was brewing on the canvas.
Unbeknownst to the artist, Conley’s friend was grappling with a serious diagnosis while she was painting the series. When she became aware of her close friend’s illness, her paintings began to make sense to her.
“I didn’t know he was so sick,” she explained. “He was sick from the day that I met him, and I started doing these paintings of a sick person. Then it turned out he had glioblastoma brain cancer and nearly died.”
She described the experience as “bizarre,” for the character she created with paint mimicked her friend’s own journey. Conely painted a cancer-free man, and soon after, her friend got better.
Though the paintings mirrored her friend’s journey, the work is truly about the artist herself. “You create, and it’s about you. It’s not about the other person,” Conley said. “He was just a catalyst because it kept developing. As I painted, it kept developing.”
Conley never sought formal art training and preferred to approach art the way she approaches everything in life. “I just do what I do,” she said.
As a child, she remembers painting with her father. “He had 30,000 paintings when he died, so he painted a lot,” Conley said. “He also sculpted. He would take people apart, and then at night, he would come home and put them back together in this crazy way with clay.”
One day, her father took a look at her art and suggested she “find something else to do.” That comment stuck with Conley, and for some time, the artist heeded her father’s advice. However, years later, the artist could no longer keep her creative itch at bay.
After her father's passing, Conley was tired of looking at the paintings she had inherited from him. “I said, ‘Okay, that’s it.’ I went to the paint store, and I got drop cloths and paint. I painted over all of my dad’s paintings,” Conley shared.
That cathartic day was a tipping point for the artist, who, from then on, couldn’t keep herself away from the canvas. Her apartment soon became overflowing with art.
“I incessantly started to paint. I painted myself out of that apartment,” said the Santa Monica local.
Despite her complicated relationship with her father, Conley appreciates all the gifts he gave her. She attributes painting and her musical abilities to him. She explained that after some time, “whatever it was, my resentment, my anger, my craziness, turned into gratitude.”
But, in 2016, Conley found her passion left her feeling isolated. She began searching for art classes online, where she came across the SMC Emeritus program.
SMC Emeritus offers noncredit classes to older adults looking to learn new skills and explore the arts. They provide classes both online and in person in Santa Monica and on their Malibu campus. Emeritus is where Conley found her artistic community.
“I go to Jesse’s online classes, and I like the company,” the artist said. “For me, it was an avenue of getting my confidence and my style.”
Jesse Benson is an Emeritus Art Gallery curator and instructor. Conley says Benson is “like an angel” who creates an exploratory environment and exudes generosity toward everyone he meets. She also cites Adam Harrison as another teacher from whom she has learned a lot throughout her time at SMC Emeritus.
Since the gallery’s opening, the artist has already sold three pieces, including “Wildebeest,” an acrylic on canvas that Conley said she would miss the most.
In the work hung neatly along the gallery’s white walls, observers will see the use of both oil and acrylic paint. Conley experiments with the use of layers and textures, with many of her pieces having an acrylic base with oil on top.
“I like the way oil looks,” Conley explained. “It’s creamy. It never dries. It’s manipulated and lush looking.”
“Invest in your creativity. It’s the one God-given thing that you can give and explore that will widen your life,” Conley said.
“The Invisible Man” can be viewed for free at SMC Emeritus or online via a Zoom virtual launch, during which Conley speaks about her work with Benson. The showcase will close on March 22.
Conley is also looking to the future. She continues to create art and see where the stories take her. “I think stories drive everything. I just paint, and something’s going to happen,” Conley said. “I create out of inspiration. I don’t create from a plan.”