new paintings for the open studios

Nick Powell - artist statement

October 2010

In my new work started this past month I have been keen to explore the relationship that drawing has with painting, in terms of representing the figure. In wishing to retain the immediacy of the drawings I made, I projected and drew figurative images onto the canvas.

I drew people walking down a street in a relaxed setting. However, the original drawings of the figures were executed without any reference to buildings or backgrounds. I was just interested in recording physical detail. The drawings took five-to-ten seconds, or the time it took for the person or people to walk in and out of view. I had no time to consider my work or to edit the drawing during this time. If they stopped walking I had more time to draw them. The drawings were a result of observing and responding to their movement, with my pencil marks recording sensations according to their gait or gesture.

The challenge was to situate them in a perspective. By using acrylic paint and through the use of colour and layering I was keen to explore how the figure could relate to a new invented space on the canvas.