From Sharne Wolff…
John Nicholson’s Traffic series might well be titled after the coloured trails made by vehicle lights as they dissolve in a distant blur of motion. Comprising seven individual framed works and a separate wall installation, Nicholson continues his exploration of the physical qualities of light by converting it to plastic tangible objects. Employing both optical effects and single or multi-point perspective, in Traffic Nicholson draws on the attributes of various digital technologies and “reimagines them with volume and scale”. Converging bands of colour result in a series of dynamic geometric works whose spatial properties make them appear more like sculptures than paintings.
Somewhat more tranquil is the group show Sleep, where a simulated bedroom has been fashioned to display work from Christopher Hanrahan, Nicola Smith and Justin Trendall. Referencing the French film Les Rendez-vous d’Anna (Meetings of Anna) 1978, four of Smith’s contemplative paintings surround the light-dimmed room. While Hanrahan’s Endless Holes (four decanters for CB) at first resembles a bedside table with lamp, the assortment of small objects and tower of empty crystal decanters on a stool is a tribute to Constantin Brancusi’s The Endless Column. On the bed, a covetable black quilt appears to be hand stitched in delicate white thread. Trendall’s For A Long Time I Would Go to Bed Early – a screen print on cotton – is a seemingly endless list of fellow artists and culture-makers with names from Brook Andrew to Jenny Watson woven across the surface in a web-like pattern.
Until August 29
Sarah Cottier Gallery, Paddington
Pic: John Nicholson VGA 2015, plastic 51.5 x 32cm. Courtesy the artist and Sarah Cottier Gallery.
