Nike

About Nike

Nike was the only winged goddess.  At the time this painting was made, I had seen and been smitten by an incredible Alexander McQueen retrospective exhibition at the V&A museum.   Totally inspired by how nature and the wild influenced every design decision he made and permeated the very nature of his creations. 

The figure lies prone, a fallen goddess.  Interestingly, the painting can also be seen in a vertical format, where the reading of the figure and wings are totally different and resemble something totally different, the taking of flight perhaps.

I used the collaged and torn elements of ink-stained papers on thick watercolour paper to build the wings.  The beautiful transparent colours overlaid and creating the wing structure around the figure, which remains more elusive and ephemeral. 

The use of the e-sumi method of ink-bleed painting and a free use of strokes with large Japanese brushes on paper gave me the broad marks and swipes. 

The use of flow state and music to allow me to build this figure at this scale intuitively and the ultimate statement remains mysterious, uncertain.  For me, it is the very important subject of how humans have harnessed materials and beauty from the natural world to protect, adorn and give themselves status and power.  

Nike encapsulates this and the wider powerful metaphor we are dealing with now with more extreme climate change and as the debates and negotiates carbon at #Cop26.

Dimensions:  x cm x x cm Frame:  stained wooden frame, artwork float-mounted.