Connor Daniels | Disintegration and the Birth of a Voice
“Disintegration was the first piece I made in my own style.” – Connor Daniels
In the evolving world of contemporary drawing, few debut works land with the quiet authority of Connor Daniels’ Disintegration. Composed entirely in ballpoint pen, the work is not just a visual statement — it’s a personal milestone. It marks the moment when an artist moved beyond influence and into his own language.
Born and based in Cape Town, Daniels brings together a unique synthesis of ideas: speculative fiction, African futurism, tribal geometry, cybernetic anatomy, and psychological portraiture. His work is technical but never cold — detailed, yet deeply emotive. His chosen tool? A simple ballpoint pen, wielded with such control that each line behaves like muscle memory.
A Portrait of Becoming
In Disintegration, the figure appears caught mid-transition — not vanishing, but shifting. The face is part flesh, part mechanism. Wires coil where veins might run. A biomechanical matrix replaces bone. It’s a portrait of transformation, of identity in flux. But it’s also a self-portrait in spirit — the first image Connor drew not as a student of drawing, but as a maker of meaning.
“It’s not about falling apart,” he says. “It’s about deciding which pieces still belong.”
The work aligns conceptually with the Ship of Theseus paradox — if every part of something is replaced, is it still the same? This dilemma runs through Daniels’ entire practice. His figures, often imagined as “people of Thesus,” confront memory, modification, and reconstruction in both physical and psychological terms.
The Medium as Philosophy
Drawn entirely in ink, Disintegration is an exercise in irreversible decision-making. No erasing. No undoing. Just intention — built up through thousands of deliberate marks.
“Ballpoint doesn’t forgive,” Daniels says. “That’s why I use it.”
From a collector’s perspective, this choice matters. It connects the artist’s hand directly to the viewer, without mediation or correction. The artwork becomes a record of time, thought, and tension — a process as visible as the image itself.
Why This Work Matters
For collectors of emerging talent, Disintegration is a keystone work:
- It marks the origin of the artist’s signature style
- It reflects an uncommon fusion of concept and craft
- It belongs to a larger, developing world of narrative portraiture that Daniels is building — a world you can enter at its beginning
As Unsung Art prepares to unveil 13 Voices — a curatorial series highlighting unique narrative artists across South Africa — Connor Daniels is Voice One. Disintegration is the opening sentence.
Now Available
- Title: Disintegration
- Medium: Ballpoint pen on paper
- Status: Available for acquisition
- Edition: Original work (1/1), signed
- Framing: Available on request
For acquisition click here, for viewing, or catalogue access email hello@unsungart.co.za