Dead Red In The Oasis Painting

NICHOLAS PEART is a British artist. He studied at the Wimbledon School of Art in London and has had his work featured in many group and solo exhibitions. His work is held in private collections around the world. ARTIST STATEMENT When I paint, I paint as if I were writing poetry. Yet poetry not restricted by the straitjacket of subject matter. My paintings are not bound by events or issues, especially, those that are social or political in nature. Neither are they limited or boxed by identity. To be clear on the latter, I mean identity confined by race, nation, social class, culture etc. More broadly, they are not bound by time and space. Therefore, I refer to my paintings as visual transcendental poems, since the essence of my paintings is not limited by the fundamental universal boundaries of time and space. ​ This essence is completely free; like stars, or fragments of matter in the universe. Irrespective of whether it’s alive or dead, visible or invisible. This essence exists eternally, in alternating degrees of energy states. The carcasses of my paintings, the canvases and applied paint; are not eternal, but the essence of my paintings, the underlying spirit, is very much eternal. The paintings themselves are no different to physical living organisms in their permanence. And that’s fine. But at the very least, they are brief records of this eternal and unbreakable essence. ​ My paintings are mirrors into my soul. Each painting I create is a tangible visual tapestry of my unconscious, or as I prefer to refer to this, the eternal source. And this eternal source pins down more clearly this essence I’ve been trying to explain. When I paint, I paint my feelings that originate from this eternal source. The ritual of painting enables me to materialise all my mental complexities. Each painting is a material, tangible document of these intangible and invisible complexities; whether they are my dreams or nightmares, feelings of happiness or sadness, moments of joy or pain, occasional senses of longing or nostalgia regressions, all my experiences, all my emotional complexities, my idealism, my romanticism, and so forth. The origin of those complexities derives from the true spiritual essence of my being; the eternal source.