Posts tagged ‘Art’

Nov 27

Sunday Supplement: Le Paris Formidable

Ahhh as this blog goes to print, I am breathing the air of Paris, the most beautiful city in the world. Paris has no substitute for me. It is the ultimate jewel in the crown of global cultural offerings, every corner of the city exudes architectural magnificence, the Haussmann boulevards are so perfectly laid out that down each road your eyes feast upon one stunning postcard view after another, as the Tour Eiffel, the Arc de Triomphe, the river, the Opera Garnier all come into view. On the streets, the air is crisp and wintery but across the breeze the scent of a magnificent city in perpetual motion fills even the most unwitting visitor with a sense of anticipation. Even the antiquated metro has its own scent of the art nouveau. I adore Paris, from the inherently atmospheric tip of the Butte in Montmartre, to the boutique lined cobbled streets of the Marais. It is a constant inspiration, and I need to visit at least once a year to have my ultimate fill of this stunning city.

Le Paris Formidable (2000, acrylic on canvas) © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown

So it’s only suitable then that in this week’s Sunday Supplement, I focus upon the painting which started it all for me when I was 16 – Le Paris Formidable.

Nov 24

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Norms do… Velázquez

For the final instalment of The Daily Norm’s Spanish Season, I present the second of my Norm paintings completed while in Spain… Infanta Norm! Infanta Norm is painted in the style of the Spanish Artist supremo, Diego Velázquez. Velázquez’s masterpiece, Las Meninas, is one of Spain’s most famous classical paintings, and is without a doubt the star of the show in Madrid’s Prado Gallery. The paintings is a scene depicting a day in the life of the court of King Felipe IV of Spain. As the Spanish Court’s principal artist, Velázquez painted a number of portraits of the royal family. Amongst them are various portraits of the King’s children or “Infantas”, the likes of which form the inspiration for my own “Infanta Norm”. These paintings, along with Las Meninas, have become iconic of Spain’s golden age, and the royal princesses, with their wide dresses and equally wide hair, all adorned with gleaming jewels and rich fabrics, have become staples of Spain’s tourist iconography. Hence every souvenir shop in Spain now sells reproductions of the familiar wide-dressed princesses. I in fact have a relatively less tacky red ceramic reproduction in my London lounge!

Infanta Norm (After Velázquez) (2011, acrylic on canvas) © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown

In the gallery below I enclose a few images of the collective paintings which inspired my Infanta Norm. The painting’s composition is almost entirely based upon Velázquez’s Infanta Don Margarita (1660) with its voluptuous silk curtain hangings framing the figure of the young princess. However, for her hair and some of the dress detailing, I have also taken details from two other Velázquez portraits of Princess Margarita and her sister, Maria Teresa.

: Infanta Norm (detail) © Nicholas de Lacy-Brown

: Velásquez, Infanta Don Margarita de Austria

: Velásquez, Infanta Maria Teresa

: Velásquez, Infanta Don Margarita de Austria

Nov 22

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Norm Profile: Norm in the Jungle

Continuing my introduction to the Norms which I painted in the past, and expanding further upon the (variably) tropical theme of my Spanish season, the next Norm stepping into the limelight is Norm in the Jungle. This was the first Norm I ever painted. I gave him as a gift to my grandmother who always adored him, and continues to enjoy him still.

I’m not sure why I chose the jungle as the backdrop to my first Norm. I’ve always been drawn to the idea of a jungle, as I have been to forests with their dark creepy corridors between trees, naturally sheltered by the canopy of vast tree tops and low hanging luscious flowers and furry palms. I think I can identify two sources of inspiration for this fascination. Firstly the stories of the Moomins written and illustrated by Tove Jansson which I was obsessed with as a child. Through her vivid descriptions and beautiful illustrations, she really conjured the idea of a magical midnight forest, full of little creatures hiding under the trees, each plant and crag and corner being imbued with a sense of mystery and adventure.

Image via Wikipedia

The second influence is the art of Henri Rousseau. I adore Rousseau. He’s a great inspiration to me, first and foremost because, like me, he was a self-taught artist, and that lack of teaching can really be seen in the wonderful naivety of his art, as it can be in the work of other self-taught masters such as Frida Kahlo and Van Gogh. Thus in his work there is none of the pretention of a taught artist, but a vivid, often childlike imagination illustrated through wonderful scenes of jungle animals and full and voluptuous vegetation. My favourite work is probably “Tiger in a Tropical Storm (Surprised!)” which we are lucky enough to have hanging in London’s National Gallery free for all to see. All of his jungle works have the power to transpose their audience to the tropics… which is amazing since Rousseau never went to the tropics himself. He actually sought inspiration for his jungle scenes from the Jardin des Plantes in Paris!

Well, Norm in the Jungle was painted a long time ago (in 2005), and as I hope to show you later this week with the exclusive unveiling of four new Norm paintings, the Norms have come on a lot since. But my obsession with jungles and plants remains still. Here is a painting I did in the summer, also out here in Spain, called “Paseo Banus”. A pure celebration of the wonderful plants which grow habitually out here in Andalucía.

Paseo Banus (2011, Acrylic on canvas)

Nov 20

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Sunday Supplement: ¡Guerra! The Spanish Civil War

While I gather it’s traditional for blogs to be published on workdays, here at the Daily Norm, we like to provide a complete weekly service. So every weekend I aim to provide the Daily Norm’s loyal readers with a Sunday supplement of a cultural kind (after all, if you’re like me, you’ll head straight to the culture section of the Sunday paper!). For the first few weeks, the Sunday Supplement with provide me with the opportunity to showcase some of my (non-Norm) artwork. While pictures of my paintings have been online in various forms for some time, the Sunday Supplement provides me with an opportunity to discuss the meaning behind the imagery.

This weekend, in conjunction with the Daily Norm’s current Spanish focus, I am showcasing the painting “¡Guerra! The Spanish Civil War 1936-1939” from my “España Volver” Collection. Meaning “return to Spain”, I painted the collection in 2009-2010, when a reinvigorated interest in Spain inspired several comprehensive works. It was a “return” because Spain has long been an influence in my work. But with the España Volver collection, my return to Spain as a subject was inspired more specifically by the nation’s social, political and historical landscape. It seems appropriate then to discuss one of my most political of Spanish paintings on this, the day that Spain goes to the polls in a general election.

Nov 18

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Norms do… Picasso

Norm with Guitar, Pipe and Newspaper (After Picasso) (2011)

Continuing with the Spanish theme of my current blogs written from the great European peninsula itself, I have decided to focus on one Spaniard who has frequently influenced my own work as an Artist, and countless artists over the last 100 years: Pablo Picasso. The great artist, whose works boast the first, second and third place in the world records for the most expensive art works ever sold, was born very close to where I am currently staying, in Malaga. His works are sometimes divisive, but most universally admired. A few critics bemoan the childlike expression of much of his latter work, but as I have often found, it is in fact much more difficult to paint naively when, like Picasso, it is a natural instinct to paint well. What appear to be haphazard brush strokes are probably the result of many hours or even days of contemplation. The underlying balance which enables us to view a Picasso painting as a satisfied viewer may well have taken an enormous amount of preparation to achieve. In any case, Picasso is not just about eyes found where ears should be, and ears painted somewhere around the sitter’s feet. He was in fact tremendously vital to art history. He took art to new boundaries. He was a key proponent in cubism, and in abstract. He brought us a new, emotionally raw way of portraying lovers, family and other people in his life, opening the doors to the likes of Francis Bacon and his infamously savage, blurred and disfiguring portraits . Moreover, the breadth and variety of Picasso’s career provides us with a significant account of twentieth century history, not least his stunning and deeply poignant portrayal of the Spanish Civil War in Guernica, which continues to stir emotions today as perhaps the boldest declaration against war ever painted.

Nov 14

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Welcome to the Daily Norm!

Welcome to the Daily Norm, a daily exploration through Normville, the world of the Norms, the little white blobs who have pervaded my artistic output for some years. Through this blog, I hope to introduce you to the lives and times of these blobby little creatures, where they can be found, who’s who in the world of the Norm, and what they’re thinking too.

Norms began as small sketches in my law degree notes, filling my pages where no doubt there should have been complex legal observations and academic discussion. In 2006 they made it onto the canvas, and the first collection of norms I painted sold out in one night. They reappeared briefly in 2008, but haven’t been painted since. Following popular demand, the Norms are back, and this time, they’re venturing into cyberspace! So please follow this blog, and let the norms provide you with a little daily diversion. Also be sure to check the sales section of the site regularly, so that you too can bring a little bit of Norm magic into your home.

Norm you later,

Nick (Editor/ Artist)