Nick Smith – PARAMOUR
Exploring lust, love and appreciation of the female form, Paramour brings classic literature to the modern conscience, telling stories of illicit love through evocative imagery.
Having discovered the work of Glaswegian born artist Nick Smith on Instagram, I believe it was 32C that caught my eye, I learned of his debut solo show Psycolourgy that featured re-worked images of iconic artworks the likes of Mona Lisa, Son Of Man, Van Gogh, Scream, Campbells Soup and Girl With The Pink Earring. I was then delighted to read on VNA that he is returning to the Lawrence Alkin Gallery with opening night already upon us.
I find his pixel art fascinating in the same way as work by the Miaz Brothers whereby only when standing back can you see the image clearly. And yet Smith's new body of work entitled Paramour offers even more. Inspired by erotic literature Paramour employs Nick Smith’s signature ‘colour-chip’ methodology, combining modern nudes with excerpts from the Bards’ sonnets and plays. For an example of this click here and zoom in.
Works entitled Capulet's Orchard and Tipping The Velvet might suggest the show is for the scholarly art enthusiast, and not your average Soho punter seeking images of topless women. Interestingly though Nick says these images were inspired by the early days of the Internet when progressive jpegs would load slowly, leaving viewers able to see vague shapes but have to wait for details to arrive. Not that I know what that was like of course.
“You can judge a book by its cover, or you can take a closer look and discover other dimensions. Paramour isn’t objectification; it’s celebration of the female form, and of love and desire.” Nick Smith
Paramour runs from Friday 18th March to Saturday 16th April at Lawrence Alkin Gallery, 42 New Compton Street, London WC2H 8DA.
-Bossman75