Pearls harbour in dragon art

Artist David Conolan uses Dh3.5m worth of the precious stone in his 2004 Dragon Suite series, now on display in Dubai

David Conolan could pass off as a friendly buccaneer and it has nothing to do with the fact that he has an art exhibition in Dubai that uses pearls worth Dh3.5 million in his latest works.

With his bandana, earrings and delightful yellow shoes, Conolan seems as if he would be more comfortable on a boat circumnavigating the world.

And yet, he grins and poses in front of his paintings with a smile that captures the essence of his current philosophy in life.

"My philosophy in life has constantly been changing," says the creator of the 2004 Dragon Suite series on display at the Armoury Lounge in Al Qasr in Madinat Jumeirah.

"Right now, it's basically to enjoy life and do things without the fear of failure," he says.

Originally from Melbourne, Conolan now owns five art galleries in Australia, which means he is not pinned down to a single city.

"I'm fairly famous in Australia," he says when asked how popular Conolan and his works are.

"This is the first time this exhibition is going international," he says of the Dragon Suite.

He laughs at the irony that the exhibition has its worldwide debut in Dubai and not, say, China.

"That [Beijing] is being worked out," he says as he escorts interested passers-by to view the 17 pieces up for view.

The works themselves have to be seen.

However, to sum them up in the simplest way, they are essentially paintings of dragons, insects and reptiles (Conolan cringes at the word) that use paint, pearls and other gemstones.

"Reptiles isn't a very nice word," he says, ironically standing in front of a painting of a gecko, which is one of the smaller pieces.

The process of painting and subsequently filling the painting or outline with precious South Sea pearls would appear to be a tedious task, but Conolan says it was in fact, an extremely fast-paced flurry of activity.

Assisted by his mate and partner in this project, Larry House, who owns the farms from where the pearls were harvested, Conolan and House recall the experience with a laugh.

"It was actually quite straightforward," says House.

David and House would paint; House would be sitting near David, surrounded by cups filled with pearls.

"As and when required, I would hand him a pearl, which he would either take or reject," he says.

Conolan explains that the need for such urgent work stemmed from the quick-drying nature of the polymer-based acrylic paint that becomes like plastic after it sets.

"The pearls are stuck directly on the paint," he says, pointing out the absence of any other adhesive.

After sticking the pearls, Conolan would paint around the area and as a result, the thickness of the painting increases.

"The pearls are completely natural and have not been tampered with and so will be in the same form even after 200 years," says House when asked about the pearls' continuous exposure to moisture and air.

Conolan completed his current exhibition over a period of four months, but the period from conception to implementation took about 18.

"When I first heard of this concept of using pearls on paintings, I had seen a rough version with low-quality pearls and just thought that it would be a fantastic idea to do the same with a higher quality of pearls," House says.

Due to the nature of the paint and additional task of selecting pearls, Conolan would paint each painting taking one section at a time.

"The idea was already in my mind and that's probably what took more time [section-wise work]. As for selecting the pearls, it really depended on the painting," he says pointing to a large representation of a dragon.

"For this, I've used an approach of starting out in the middle of the dragon's body with really big pearls to create a really big impact and then it tapers off into smaller pearls as we move down to the tail," says Conolan.

Though not an expert on pearls, Conolan says having House on the project did help, even though most of the selection was done purely by feel.

"There was no thought process that really went on in my mind, just an instinctive reaction to ‘Does this pearl feel right'," he says.

The inspiration for the Dragon Suite came from Conolan's shaman, who apparently told him that he would paint dragons for his next series.

Conolan does not find it odd that the subject for his artwork stems from a mystic instead of a muse.

"I just take it as advice and if someone's got some good advice for me then why not listen to it," he says.

While the subject was suggested by his shaman, the idea to fill the works up with pearls came about purely because Conolan wanted to do something that had never been done before.

"I wanted to bring art to the world in a way that had never been seen before," says the man, who even got a commemorative Chinese dragon tattoo on his left leg.

Conolan believes he has not only ensured that his paintings are a pioneering attempt, but adds that his paintings cannot even be replicated, and he asks the pearl expert to elaborate.

"No two pearls are alike, so it's not even like repainting a Da Vinci. In this case, the idea may be used again, but the uniqueness of each piece will always remain," says House.