Snap
dal 5/2/2002 al 2/3/2002
Segnalato da
5/2/2002
Snap
Clapham Art Gallery, London
Nawfal Salman is concerned with the notion of the snapshot. Working in a photo-realist manner using various sources for subject matter in his small-scale, photographic print sized oil paintings, the artist opens up a direct interplay between painting, photography and the art object. A series of paintings that could at a glance be confused with photographs. However, they represent less a confrontation between the mediums as a harnessing and interaction.
NAWFAL SALMAN
Nawfal Salman graduated from Coventry University with a BA (Hons) in
Fine Art in the year 2000. Clapham Art Gallery is delighted to present
him with his first one-person show in London.
Salman is concerned with the notion of the snapshot. Working in a
photo-realist manner using various sources for subject matter in his
small-scale, photographic print sized oil paintings, the artist opens up
a direct interplay between painting, photography and the art object.
Depictions of anything from family snapshots, animals, news flashes,
houses and porn ‘borrowed’ from photo albums, newspapers, magazines
and Internet sites reveal a wide visual interest, although every
generation of development is attended mindfully by the artist:
‘The process of choosing, manipulating, and then painting the images
is meant in itself as an act of expression, and is used as a means for
portraying a personal emotional response to the subjects.’
The result is a set of subtle re-workings of the original source
material that are leant a more weighty presence by being manipulated and
rendered as oil painting according to the artist’s vision. For
example, Salman’s nostalgic paintings of family snapshots become
unsettling as well as poignant. The subjects become part of a drama
played out in real life, reluctantly posing to record a particular
moment in time. By being photographed and then painted these scenes are
removed one step further from actual life, thereby objectifying
something that was once wholly subjective and personal.
In essence we are presented with a series of paintings that could at a
glance be confused with photographs. However, they represent less a
confrontation between the mediums as a harnessing and interaction. The
scale, primarily, illustrates that the common proposition of photography
replacing painting or vice versa is now redundant. It becomes evident
that painting and photography do and will continue to exist together and
alongside one another.
Gallery Hours: Tue-Sat 1-9pm Sun 1-5pm
Contact: Zavier Ellis / Aniko Pall: +44 (0)20 7720 0955
61 venn street -- clapham common tube -- london -- SW4 0BD
61 Venn
Street