Connor Draycott
Connor Draycott is a figurative artist currently studying at The Glasgow School of Art and working as a commissioned portrait painter. One of his recent commissions includes a portrait of the renowned Scottish actor James Finlayson, now on permanent display at The Dobbie Hall in Larbert, where Finlayson first began his acting career.
Connor has been recognised in several notable awards, including The Ruth Borchard Self-Portrait Prize 2025, the Scottish Portrait Awards 2022, the Scottish Fine Art Awards 2023, and was the recipient of the Shining a Light Award 2023.
While portraiture remains central to his practice, Connor’s larger figurative/Still Life works delve into the complexities of what it means to be human—to exist as an individual within the constraints of a physical body and in modern society. He explores themes of bodily failure, entrapment, control, and habitation.
His process often begins with collage, incorporating his own drawings and photographic material to build compositions. The inclusion of bold colour and abstraction introduces a sense of unfolding narrative, offering insight into his reflections on identity and existence. These elements contribute to images in which the figure appears unfamiliar, teetering on the edge between realism and the surreal. Despite their dreamlike qualities, his paintings remain grounded in form, challenging viewers to engage with the emotional and psychological terrain they present.
Connor’s portrait work challenges and expands the traditional boundaries of painting through experimental techniques of application, layering, and deliberate disruption of the surface. His approach not only portrays a life but imbues the two-dimensional plane with a sense of having lived one as well. Through applications of wax, the skin adheres to the substrate, giving the depiction of flesh a translucent and textural fleshiness to its epidermal layer. His subjects often appear suspended in stillness, lost in contemplation or engaged in quiet, everyday rituals—acts of endurance that speak to the quiet persistence of simply making it to the next day.
