Call Me Anything but Ordinary (9598), 2026

"Call Me Anything but Ordinary (9598)" is an oil stick, acrylic, pigment and screen print on canvas created by The Connor Brothers in 2026. The artwork is signed and dated 'Connor Brothers '26' on verso. The artwork ships framed in a contemporary black frame and has a framed size of 58 x 42".

The "Pulp Fiction Paintings" have become synonymous with The Connor Brothers' oeuvre. Drawing inspiration from the sensational paperback book covers that filled newsstands throughout the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, the series embraces the dramatic aesthetics of vintage pulp fiction: glamorous women, crime, romance, mystery, and intrigue. Designed to seize attention through bold graphics and cinematic compositions, these covers became icons of popular visual culture. The Connor Brothers transform this once-disposable commercial imagery into sophisticated contemporary art, using it not as historical illustration but as the stage for entirely new narratives.

Today, these vintage covers evoke both nostalgia and a fascination with the social attitudes, fantasies, and aspirations of the era that produced them. Rather than simply reproducing them, The Connor Brothers pair the imagery with witty, philosophical, and often provocative text, inviting viewers to reconsider both the images themselves and the stories they tell. Familiar scenes become contemporary reflections on identity, truth, resilience, and the human condition.

The female protagonists that dominate many of the paintings are central to this transformation. Drawn from the world of pulp fiction illustration, they appear glamorous, mysterious, vulnerable, defiant, or contemplative. Yet unlike their original counterparts, whose narratives often reflected conventional gender roles, these women become vehicles for modern observations about individuality, self-determination, and emotional complexity.

Phrases such as “Why Fit In When You Were Born To Stand Out” transform a seemingly conventional heroine into an emblem of confidence and authenticity, while “There Are No Extraordinary People, Only Ordinary People Who Do Extraordinary Things” reframes an everyday character as a symbol of perseverance and human potential. The combination of vintage imagery and contemporary language creates an engaging tension between past and present, familiarity and reinterpretation.

Humor is equally important to the series. Works bearing titles such as “I Tried to Drown My Sorrows But the Bastards Learned How to Swim” or “If You've Got a Skeleton in Your Closet You'd Better Make It Dance” provoke laughter while revealing deeper truths about regret, vulnerability, resilience, and acceptance. The wit serves as an accessible entry point into more reflective emotional territory.

Literary references also play an important role. Quotations including “Be Yourself, Everyone Else Is Taken” and “I Can Resist Everything Except Temptation,” both commonly associated with Oscar Wilde, demonstrate the artists' fascination with language and authorship. By placing celebrated literary quotations within the context of pulp fiction imagery, they blur the boundaries between high and low culture, challenging traditional distinctions between literature and popular entertainment.

Other works examine the nature of truth itself. “Tell Me Beautiful Untrue Things” reflects humanity's enduring attraction to fiction and fantasy, while “Just Because You All Believe It Doesn't Make It True” offers a timely commentary on misinformation, collective belief, and the competing narratives that shape contemporary life. These messages resonate particularly strongly in an era defined by social media, curated identities, and shifting perceptions of reality.

The visual impact of the series is enhanced by the artists' technique, combining screen-printed imagery with hand-worked passages of oil stick, acrylic, and pigment. The resulting surfaces balance the precision of mechanical reproduction with the expressive qualities of the artist's hand, reinforcing the conceptual dialogue between authenticity and fabrication that runs throughout the work.

What makes the "Pulp Fiction Paintings" so enduring is their ability to operate on multiple levels at once. They are visually engaging, instantly recognizable, and often disarmingly humorous, yet beneath their polished surfaces lie thoughtful explorations of literature, psychology, memory, gender, and cultural mythology. Combining the timeless allure of vintage pulp illustration with observations that feel distinctly modern, they transform forgotten fragments of popular culture into works that are witty, provocative, and deeply human. In doing so, The Connor Brothers remind us that the stories we inherit, and the stories we tell ourselves, often reveal far more than the facts alone.