Currently on at the Hughes Gallery is Nick Collerson’s latest outing “Everything Must Go”
Collerson is an instinctive, compulsive painter and drawer who is currently a lecturer at the National Art School. He practices Vipassana Meditation, dabbles in music and poetry and is a certified skateboard nut. Worth mentioning because his surroundings, history and street culture essentially inform his work.
It is in Collerson’s urban sensibilities that find humour and sophistication within cult movies, alternate music as well as expressionist figurative art. The sensitivity to all of these observations contributes to the peripheral view imagery in his painting. The everyday quirky scenes evoke unrelated memories, not necessarily our own, by subliminal association.
The freshness of his work comes from the palpable sense of allowing the painting to lead him, responding in the moment and not relying on a formula of any sort. The paintings feel right, intentionally mixing ordinary domestic scenes, occasional pop culture references and continually surprising at each corner with unpredictable context. Some of the spare tonal compositions like ‘Freezer’ and ‘Drain’ were highlights for me.
The paint is thin, translucent and unfussed with elaborate detail giving the works a sense of immediacy. He has developed a definable style that combines at times obscure narrative with a strong formal structure. “Everything Must Go” continues till the 27th of October at the Hughes Gallery.
Glenn Locklee
Guest Reviewer
1st October - 27th October 2015
www.rayhughesgallery.com
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