Tell Me Beautiful Untrue Things

The Connor Brothers are a pair of contemporary British artists producing funky Pop art. Their figurative, pin-up style prints and paintings often feature images of women and solid blocks of color punctuated by snippets of cheeky text. Each piece hints at a scene from a sensationalist story, inviting the viewer to fill in the rest.

The artists behind The Connor Brothers are Mike Snelle and James Golding. Former art dealers, the two began making art together in 2012. At first, they presented the work as being by the fictional American twins Franklyn and Brendan Connor. They even came up with an elaborate backstory: the brothers were escapees from a cult known as “The Family.”

Shortly after appearing on the scene, Snelle and Golding began selling work at art shows and fairs around London. Their work was auctioned at Bonhams and Christie’s alongside artists like Damien Hirst and Banksy. As their prominence grew, the alter-egos that were supposed to be a fun ruse grew more inconvenient. The pair decided to come clean in an exclusive interview with The Telegraph in 2014.

Though their admission caused a minor uproar in the art world, it allowed The Connor Brothers greater freedom of expression. In 2015, they produced a performance at Banksy’s Dismaland “bemusement park” to comment on the refugee crisis. The pair have also partnered with British rapper Professor Green and the mental health charity CALM to draw attention to men’s mental health issues in the United Kingdom. In 2019, they raised £100,000 for CALM with the auction of 12 unique donated prints.

The Connors Brothers have exhibited throughout London, as well as in Berlin, Los Angeles, New York and Sydney. Their work is in the collections of the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.

On 1stDibs, find The Connor Brothers’ paintings, prints, mixed media and more.

Bring energy and an array of welcome colors and textures into your space by decorating with figurative fine-art prints and works on paper.

Figurative art stands in contrast to abstract art, which is more expressive than representational. The oldest-known work of figurative art is a figurative painting — specifically, a rock painting of an animal made over 40,000 years ago in Borneo. This remnant of a remote past has long faded, but its depiction of a cattle-like creature in elegant ocher markings endures.

Since then, figurative art has evolved significantly as it continues to represent the world, including a breadth of works on paper, including printmaking. This includes woodcuts, which are a type of relief print with perennial popularity among collectors. The artist carves into a block and applies ink to the raised surface, which is then pressed onto paper. There are also planographic prints, which use metal plates, stones or other flat surfaces as their base. The artist will often draw on the surface with grease crayon and then apply ink to those markings. Lithographs are a common version of planographic prints.

Figurative art printmaking was especially popular during the height of the Pop art movement, and this kind of work can be seen in artist Andy Warhol’s extensive use of photographic silkscreen printing. Everyday objects, logos and scenes were given a unique twist, whether in the style of a comic strip or in the use of neon colors.

Explore an impressive collection of figurative art prints for sale on 1stDibs and read about how to arrange your wall art.