15 October - 3 November 2019
Nigel Brown continues to challenge the viewer on social and environmental issues in this current exhibition.
“The dog was inspired by our black dog – this is how he looks clipped, but with time he turns into a chaotic fur ball.”
“DOG is an exhibition of new paintings and cut outs. Cut outs have influenced my paintings.
There is something very simple about a person walking a dog – and yet it can suggest complex questions. If you see the dog as nature or the instinctive, are they under control or potentially wild at heart? Are they experiencing the world more than we are? Nothing is fixed and we live in a climate of change full of social tensions and challenges. Where volcanoes just appear and the ground cracks beneath our feet. A climate where we continue to look for nurture and simplicity. The age of climate change has begun.
Like many people now, I’m very aware of human pollution of the planet. Even as an artist you produce so much waste, with tubes, rags and plastic wrapping. Acrylics are polymers and oils with turps are toxic. With several of the paintings in this series, I enjoyed incorporating glitter trash found in craft and dress shops. To pollute fine art ideals was both the point of the work and the irony.
One function of art for me is to strongly remind the viewer that this art that I do, is expressively handmade, organic and individual.”
Nigel Brown 2019