The Daily Norm

Feb 24

Ripples 2: Venice (Rio della Guerra)

With my solo exhibition fast approaching, I am going full steam ahead in an attempt to get my collection ready for its big unveiling this May. Not only am I working concurrently on three oil and acrylic canvases, but I also have several gouache works, a new woodcut edition, and old woodcut edition, a new etching and several Norm sketches on the go. It’s a daunting task trying to get all of those works completed in less than 3 months (with the fact that I work full time as a lawyer also being something of an issue…), but I am happy to say that the factory process is in full flow, churning out the works at a steady and pleasing pace (factory = me). As if by way of demonstration, this week I will be sharing not one, but two new paintings with you – one which sees the completion of an ambitious canvas which I started way back last summer, and the second, today’s, which I begun only a few weeks ago.

Yes, hot on the heels of my Natale Italiano posts, and my obsession with the abstract forms created by rippled water, as subsequently demonstrated in my posts on ripples photographs, paintings, my recent woodcut, and in the first of my new gouache ripples collection, I now present the second gouache painting of the series: Ripples 2: Venice (Rio della Guerra).

Ripples 2: Venice (Rio della Guerra) 2014 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, gouache on paper

As with the first piece, this painting focuses on the rippled reflection, rather than showing both the reflection and the scenery it reflects. Focusing on the ripples rather than on the real world above them means that the viewer is left with the more abstract image which nature creates, causing one to question what is actually being shown in the image when seen at a first glance. Is it just an unplanned abstract image, or something more illustrative? It is only after some time that you then realise that what this painting shows is the underside of a bridge, an iron railing, and a building punctuated by windows behind it, albeit rippled into a charmingly haphazard abstract form.

I’m so excited by the prospect of a world in ripples that I could go on painting them forever. The only trouble is, I don’t think they’ll actually be on show at my solo show in May, which means I should really start concentrating on other works. As to which – come back a little later in the week, to see the work which will be central to my solo exhibition in May.

Until then, have a great week.

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

Feb 20

Saatchi’s positive Body Language

Whenever I visit the Saatchi gallery in Chelsea, I always do so on the assumption that I am going to hate most of the art on show. This reactionary pattern begun some years back, when Saatchi was still on the south bank, and the works included Tracy Emin’s vile “unmade” tip of a filthy bed, and her even viler photographic self portrait surrounded by money shoved up and around her you-know-what. Then, when Saatchi moved to Chelsea, exhibitions included a show of Russian art, which turned out to be even more depressing in its lack of talent than one would have already guessed, and shows which decided that the car wrecks lifted straight out of a (probably tragic) accident scene would somehow make for an enticing art exhibit.

So, when I dropped into Saatchi’s gallery last weekend, I wasn’t expecting the latest offering, Body Language, to be much better than a convenient toilet stop in the midsts of some Chelsea shopping. But when you enter a gallery a see a sculpted portrait made out of Iberico ham, you pretty much know that you are going to be in for a treat. Oh yes, with his brilliantly innovative creation of Spain’s best leg of meat, Kasper Kovitz’ Carnalitos sculptures single handedly opened my eyes to the positives of Saatci’s ever revolving exhibitions of contemporary art works (eyes which had pretty much been sealed shut in opposition following the recent Nigella cafe strangle scandal…).

Carnalitos (Arana) © Kasper Kovitz, 2010

Carnalitos (Unamuno) © Kasper Kovitz, 2010

Other favourites from a varied show of contemporary artists include the paintings of Michael Cline, whose somewhat parodied figures reminded me of Stanley Spencer’s Sandham Memorial Chapel paintings which were recently on show at Somerset House. I also loved Nicole Eisenman’s energetic oil paintings such as the Beer Garden at Night (2007) which is full of whimsical figures and amusing social shenanigans which can keep an audience entranced for hours, and Makiko Kudo’s fantastical escapist visions which were in part like a Manga cartoon and at the same time like Monet’s pond bursting with lilies.

That’s That © Michael Cline, 2008

Police Line, © Michael Cline, 2007

Floating Island © Makiko Kudo, 2012

Burning Red © Makiko Kudo, 2012

Beasley Street, © Nicole Eisenman, 2007

Beasley Street, © Nicole Eisenman, 2007 (detail)

Beer Garden at NIght, © Nicole Eisenman, 2007

Less convincing were the paintings by Eddie Martinez which were so badly painted as to be derisable. His “Feast” is compared in the gallery brochure to Da Vinci’s historically celebrated Last Supper. I would compare it to the dirty dining table at the end of a meal when my toddler nephews have been to stay. I was equally dismayed by Denis Tarasov’s photographs of tombstones in graveyards in Russia and Ukraine, not because of the photography itself, but because of the hideously tacky gravestone pictures which they captured – huge granite tombs decorated with intricately carved photographic likenesses of the individuals buried beneath them, looking so vulgar that to even place such visions in a freshly painted white gallery in the centre of London’s chelsea felt like dumping a Lidl in the middle of Harrods. That’s not to say they weren’t interesting – one shouldn’t be surprised that this level of vulgarity would come out of a country which has backdated its laws in relation to homosexuality by at least a century of moralistic retardation.

The Feast (detail) © Eddie Martinez, 2010

Untitled (from the Essence Series) © Denis Tarasov, 2013

But I digress. From its low points to its very high, Body Language is well worth a visit for its sheer diversity of art – there really is something for everyone, and it’s free too, so what’s to lose? For me, the show demonstrates that painting is very much back in fashion and that the age of nonsense gimmicky installations is largely dead, which can only be good news if the 21st century is ever going to make any kind of decisive mark on art history. Not only that but the Saatchi gallery is, as ever, a brilliant cultural location whose highlights also include a show of emerging British talent, a gallery of limited edition prints which are for sale, a spangly new gift shop which is around 6 times the size of what it used to be (Iberico ham sculptures sadly not for sale – but there’s always Iberica restaurant in Marylebone as a very good consolation prize – and there you even get to eat it).

Body Language is on at the Saatchi Gallery, Chelsea, until the 23 March 2014

Feb 19

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Finding the light in a gloomy wet winter

Gloomy short days which get dark before you make it home in the evening; a deluge of rain which has flooded areas of the UK whose residents didn’t even realise they had a river nearby; and a protracted season without leaves on the trees or flowers on the ground. The winter is a long, depressing period which I cannot stand. Days go by without any sense of hope or vitality of life; when you don’t even notice the scant daylight, and get used to a life without sunshine.

For me the only way to get through the winter is by taking a threefold approach: 1. To think, dream, paint and write about past holidays, and to book a load more for the year ahead; 2. To eat lots of delicious food whose flavours are imbued with the flavour palette of the Mediterranean and other sunny locations; and 3. Whenever the slightest glimpse of sunshine peeks through the clouds, to rush out of doors to soak in this rare glimpse of happiness.

The small collection of photos on this post were taken during my Winter-survival tactic number 3, usually over my lunch hour when I occasionally take a stroll through St James’ Park in Westminster to blow away some of the winter cobwebs. It’s amazing to see, during those walks, that despite the protracted period of winter, nature is still very much in action (that may be in part due to the excess of rain which has kept London temperatures pretty mild). In St James’ park for example, there is no sign of hibernation for the cute little squirrels who scurry tamely around London tourists in search of their lunch; and the huge resident pelicans are still out and about, preening their snowy white feathers before crowds of camera-happy visitors.

So in sharing this small set of photos, which also includes a glimpse of a 4^th way to get through the winter – cinema season! – as well as some of my Instagram shots taken out and about in the capital, I hope to spread some of the hope which these moments provided to all those of you who wonder when this gloomy season will ever end. Let’s hope it’s soon.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Feb 17

New painting alert! – A week of sneaky-peeks on twitter

I make no secret of the fact that I am a great creative, spending hours of every day and week creating, whether it be sketching, painting or printing, or further afield cooking up feasts in the kitchen or closely acquainting myself with my camera. However, since starting work full-time two years ago, the rate at which I complete the large scale oil paintings which I used to create on a regular basis, and many of which will be on display at my forthcoming solo exhibition, has really slowed. Last year’s Autorretrato took me around 9 months to complete, and the work which I turned to shortly after completing that one – my painted exploration of Aix-en-Provence in the South of France was commenced as long ago as last summer.

So it is with a great degree of excitement that I am but mere brushstrokes away from completing this homage to Aix which I have been working on tirelessly (on and off, admittedly) for the last 6 months. Fairly large in scale (1oocm x 75cm) and big on detail, it was always going to be a fairly ambitious project, containing as it does a landscape and cityscape all rolled into one together with illustrations of some 9 of the city’s famous fountains as well as a number of shops and cafes.

As I approach the completion of that work, I wanted to share the excitement with you, and what better way to do that than share some exclusive peeks of the details of the work? Starting from today, I will be sharing one glimpse a day of my new painting – it’ll be a bit like a jigsaw puzzle, with little pieces of the work being released day by day before the whole painting is unveiled next week. But while the first peek is contained here on this post, it’ll be the only one – for all of the rest, you’ll need to check out my twitter, @DeLacyBrownArt, from which I will be posting a new detail of the painting every day this week. And as if that weren’t incentive enough to follow me, my twitter will also tell you whenever a new Daily Norm post is published!

Aix: City of a Thousand Paintings (2013-4 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, oil on canvas) Detail – Ribbons

So please do check out my twitter, and come back again to The Daily Norm soon to see the complete image of my brand new oil painting. Arghhh, the excitement!!

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

Feb 15

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Printmaking Progress V: Woodcut Ripples

Having satisfied myself that I have learnt the basics of etching in both zinc and copper (and having quickly realised that I am probably not all that good at Linocut) my next challenge in my quest to learn the multifaceted skills of printmaking was to learn the art of woodcut. This sudden desire to print images from carvings made in wood was very much inspired by the work of Felix Vallotton, whose superb satirical woodcuts stood out for me way and beyond his paintings at the recent Paris Grand Palais retrospective.

So when I saw a multiplate woodcut course being offered up at my favourite art college, The Art Academy in London Bridge, I jumped at the chance to enrol.

The night before the course began, I wasn’t at all sure what image to portray with my wood. On the one hand I wanted to emulate the moody mysterious social scenarios created by Vallatton, but on the other, I wanted to continue relishing in the fond memories of my recent Italy trip. Nostalgia eventually took precedence and I decided to continue my new experiment in Venetian ripples.

The wooden plates and a first proof

That’s all very well, except that as I was about to discover, woodcut is rather tricky for a newcomer to the medium, and having chosen a photo on which my image would be based, and drawn it onto my wood, I soon found trying to cut the fluid curving lines inherent to watery reflections nigh on impossible to cut. Yet despite a few scratches, a punctured thumb and a clear case of repetitive strain injury in my forefinger, I persevered, and the photos on this blog show both the finished woodcut print, as well as a range of prints taken along the way when I was using just two plates (and therefore two colours) before I added depth to my image with an additional third plate.

The finished print and a detail shot

Ripples on the Rio della Guerra (2014 © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, woodcut print on paper)

Not bad for my first attempt – I love the fact that when you first look at the print, it looks almost like an abstract expression before your mind becomes acquainted with the various darker shapes which make up the underside of the bridge, and the windows of a nearby Venetian house – all seen rippled of course.

Much inspired I’m sure that more woodcuts will follow as I continue my merry journey into the world of printmaking.

Alternative colours and a print run of the final print

© Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm, 2001-2014. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited. Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full and clear credit is given to Nicholas de Lacy-Brown and The Daily Norm with appropriate and specific direction to the original content. For more information on the work of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown, head to his art website at www.delacy-brown.com

Feb 13

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Three months and counting… My art exhibition is on its way!

In exactly three months time, the Strand Gallery in the heart of London’s West End will throw open the doors to my brand new solo art exhibition, When (S)pain became the Norm. As my first solo show in 6 years, it will be one of the most comprehensive exhibitions I have ever staged with some 50 paintings and 50 sketches and prints covering the triple theme of my 2008 accident, works inspired by Spain, and the Norm after which this very blog is named.

On paper, three months looks like a while, but I know that it will fly by. So as much as the excitement is beginning to build, I face the next 3 months with some degree of trepidation as I look forward to the amount of work which is still before me. Working now daily to promote the event, finish paintings, order frames, sort out catering, buy bubbly and send out invites, the heat is really on, but the anticipation is starting to fill each preparatory activity with the kind of thrill that only an event of this scale can create (something which I’m sure any wedding couple to be can probably appreciate).

You’re bound to hear a lot more about the exhibition over the next few months, but in the meantime I leave you with the first of my official exhibition posters for the event whose launch marks the start of my marketing drive which commences this week. Just as that poster suggests, I ask that as many of my followers and readers alike consider marking the date in their diaries and heading over to London Town this May 13-18th, to share in this super special event with me.

More details of the exhibition and my art can be found at www.delacy-brown.com

Feb 7

Bianco Nero – Italy in a Vintage Light

As an artist who loves colour, who believes dulling down the vibrancy of paint straight from the tube is a kind of sacrilege, I am incredibly drawn to the power and atmosphere of black and white. It’s always surprised me that in the process of draining all of the colour out of an image leaving only tone and light and shadow behind, all of the emotional charge of the image is somehow more focused, almost as though the absence of colour leaves room for passion to breathe.

And it’s not just photos either. Black and white films hold an endless fascination for me, and once you’ve watched a few, you become so charmed by their subtle nuanced light that the next colour film you watch seems all too jarring and unauthentic. It’s like a calendar I recently saw in Rome of Audrey Hepburn’s famous debut Roman Holiday. On one page were beautiful black and white stills from the film we all know and love so well; on the next coloured up versions, which looked so Disney and brash by comparison. And then of course there’s Picasso’s Guernica – one of the most powerful paintings in all of the history of art – despite being painted exclusively in tones of grey.

While it’s tempting to think that the appeal of black and white photography harps back to a vintage age, when life was elegant and free from the trappings of modern life, a theory easily justified by photography heroes such as Doisneau and Brassai who so perfectly captured Paris in black and white in the inter-war years, in fact, as this post attempts to show, black and white can be just as atmospheric even when adapted to the modern age.

After weeks recollecting my recent trip to Italy, my final hurrah is a post which explores the medium of black and white photography (along with a few sepia examples thrown in to boot) with Italy and its people as a willing model. Of course it’s easy in the digital age to convert a standard colour photograph to black and white and back again, but as these shots hopefully demonstrate, the transformation is far from just the colour.

Moody, evocative, almost caught in a time vacuum, these shots have taken on a character all of their own just for being distilled in monochrome. Without the blue of the Venetian water, a ripple takes on an abstract, mysterious form; with the colour gone from their faces, random passers by in Roman squares look like actors from a golden age film; and in Naples, the shadow of an old woman in the sunlight is, in black and white, like a menacing character straight out of Victorian fiction. Now that truly is the power of black and white.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Feb 6

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Vintage Italy – advertisements from a golden age

Many may have empathised with the characters Gil and Adriana in Woody Allen’s 2011 film, Midnight in Paris, who were accused of having suffering from “golden-age nostalgia” – the condition whereby a person believes that a previous era was better than the present. In a way, the purpose of the film was to disprove this way of thinking, since Gil’s obsession with the 1920s led him to meet Adriana who was from the 1920s but who herself thought the golden age was the Belle Epoque, who in turn met the likes of Degas and Manet in the Belle Epoque who in turn thought the golden age was the renaissance…and so it goes on. Which just goes to show that “the grass is always greener” applies to the past as well as a comparison of your own life with other possibilities.

Despite this chord of warning which was espoused in Woody Allen’s film, I have to admit to suffering from a little golden-age nostalgia myself. Who could not pine after the elegance of evening dress in the 20s and before – the Downton Abbey style of dressing for dinner every evening and the top-hatted gentlemen in the Moulin Rouge? True, much of my nostalgia is probably founded in fiction – of course we all know that sanitary conditions and general quality of life was probably much lower then than we are used to now, especially for the poor. But nonetheless, the charm of past years cannot help but seep into my imagination, and fill my days with a warm sense of longing for a time of sophistication and innocence. And that charm is no more embodied than in the multi-coloured art work of vintage advertisements at the start of the great commercial age.

I love old adverts. This passion is directly inherited from my father who collects enamel advertisement signs and various advertising paraphernalia. Sadly I have to make do with reproduction postcards and posters, but the images are no less pleasurable for the reproduction. And following on from my recent series of Italy posts, I thought I would share with you a few classic examples of the vintage advertising age promoting the very cities which I have just visited: Venice, Rome and Naples.

With their bold lettering, romanticised skies, bright colours and simple motifs, it is completely understandable how these posters would have been effective in luring the pre or post-war era of awakening travellers to the charms of Italia. If only adverts today could exude such innate charisma. Oh no… there I go with my golden-age nostalgia again. I think I’d better leave you with the posters. Till next time…

Feb 5

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Natale Italiano | Naples – A photographic miscellany

You’d be forgiven for assuming from my recent posts of late that I am on something of a downer on Naples. Much has been said about the graffiti and the grime, the overflowing bins and the dodgy back streets. However let me dispel any illusion that I am anything but a fan of this city. Who could be otherwise? Exuding a loud passionate spirit like no other Italian city to the North, Naples is unapologetic in every way, from its robust flavours and shouting locals, to its busy seaside port and its unabashed hoarding of some of the most stunning artistic treasures of art history stretching back to ancient Rome and before.

Benefitting from its stunning Mediterranean location, just North of the idyllic Sorrento peninsula and nestled in a bay in front of the towering majestic presence of Vesuvius, Naples cannot help but exude beauty from every vantage point. But beyond the general geography of the region, Naples is a city which is full of eclectic contrasts, sensational architecture, and all of the small urban details which get my camera clicking faster than a hungry Neapolitan can finish off one of their tasty pizzas (which is fast).

So in my last photographic miscellany of my extensive 5 week Italy blog season (well, I say last, but look out for the atmospheric black and white special coming up at the end of the week!) I explore all of the street details, the architectural peculiarities, and all of the beautiful and unique characteristics which make Naples the seductive city it is.

All photos and written content are strictly the copyright of Nicholas de Lacy-Brown © 2014 and The Daily Norm. All rights are reserved. Unauthorized use and/or duplication of the material, whether written work, photography or artwork, included within The Daily Norm without express and written permission from The Daily Norm’s author and/or owner is strictly prohibited.

Feb 4

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Natale Italiano | Naples – Day 2: Diamonds in the Rough

In nature as in life, some of the greatest contradictions can be found together. Inside a dull-looking pebble, the brightest of sparkling diamonds can be found; from a single block of hard marble cut out of the Carrara quarry, the magnificent muscular form of Michelangelo’s David emerged; and in the ugly hostile exterior of an oyster shell is born the beauty of the perfect pearl. In Naples, such contradictions are not hard to find. In the grim graffiti covered streets emerge beautiful palaces and stunning churches; in the foothills of the life-destroying Mount Vesuvius, agricultural production thrives in richly fertile soils; and in the dark and dirty alleyways of the Spaccanapoli, treasures of sublime artistic beauty wait in the shadows to be discovered.

It was to these treasures that we headed on our final day in both Naples, and Italy, unwilling to leave the city without our own experience of these infamous sights. The first was the Capella Sansevero, whose location down a tiny side street was made obvious by the queues of tourists forming round the corner and leading up to both its front door and, somewhat illogically, to the ticket office from where a ticket had to be purchased before you could then join the second queue into the main chapel. The queues were off-putting at first, and we almost gave up on this treasure, being as we were short of time before our flight home to London. But persevering in respect of both queues, we soon made our way, slowly but surely, into what has to be one of the most stunning baroque creations of Italian art history.

The Capella Sansevero

Originating from 1590 but substantially embellished by Raimondo di Sangro, the Prince of Sansevero, it contains some 30 incredible works of art created by some of the leading Italian artists of the 18^th century. A masterfully elaborate frescoed ceiling almost gets lost amongst the crowds of marble sculptures which fill every alcove and appear to metamorphose out of the altar, but the sculpture that really pulls in the crowds is “The Veiled Christ” by Giuseppe Sanmartino. Looking at this stunning depiction of the dead Christ covered with a shroud you are almost in denial that this masterpiece of deception can be marble, so fine are the features of the shroud which even show the scars sustained by Christ during his crucifixion beneath its apparently fine drapery.

Sanmartino’s Veiled Christ

However for my money, the real star of the show, and too often overlooked in preference for the Veiled Christ, is Francesco Queirolo’s The Release from Deception (Disinganno) which shows a figure (some say it is Raimondo’s father) emerging from an intricate bundle of nets to look at a small angel who has appeared besides him. The netting is so incredibly intricate, with every knot and twist captured to perfection, that this sculpture has me entranced in absolute awe at its brilliance. How the sculptor managed to create this from a single block of marble, with all of those empty spaces cut out between the rungs of rope, I will never know. As far as I am concerned, this is the greatest masterpiece of sculpture ever to have been created in all the world. The visit to Naples was worth it for this alone.

Queirolo’s Disinganno

and another masterpiece of the Capella, Antonio Corradini’s Veiled Truth (Pudicizia)

But despite being deeply satisfied by our acquaintance with these works, a second collection of masterpieces awaited us – masterful not just because of their brilliant execution, but because of the time in which they were made, and the miracle of their survival. I am of course talking about the stunning collection of art and sculptures collected together in another of Naples’ artistic gems – the Archaeological Museum. A must for anyone who does not make it to Pompeii or wonders, if they have gone, what happened to all of the fine art which was originally excavated on the site, this museum is the home not only of treasures found in the Roman towns crushed by Vesuvius in AD 79, but also in other Roman excavations elsewhere in Italy. Number one of these incredible discoveries has to be the Farnese Bull – a group sculpture which is the largest single sculpture ever recovered from antiquity to date and thought to have been commissioned at the end of the 2^nd Century BC and carved from a single block of marble.

Masterpieces of the Archeological museum

This colossal marble sculptural group represents the myth of Dirce, wife of the King of Thebes, who was tied to a wild bull by the sons of Antiope as punishment for the ill treatment inflicted on her. It was unearthed in 1546 during excavations at the gymnasium of the Roman Baths of Caracalla and thereafter adorned the Farnese Palace in Rome, hence the nickname it has acquired having been restored by Michelangelo himself. The size and scale of this piece is as breathtaking as the detail of Quierolo’s Disinganno, and an appropriate finish to an enchanting tour of the treasures of Napoli.

The Farnese Bull

Our trip to Naples ended, as all trips should, with a Neapolitan pizza and a bottle of Chianti. Thus it was, slightly tiddly, that we made our way back to the hotel, collected our baggage, and headed home to the UK; Home to London with bags stuffed full of Venetian masks, replicas of the Bucca della Verita, packets of Roman coffee and a couple of bottles Neapolitan limoncello – a manifestation in souvenirs of the most incredible Natale Italiano we could ever have hoped for.

Check out my final photo posts from the trip – coming later this week.