30 x 30 cm | 11 x 11 in
Subject: Objects / Still Life
Tags:
Heat,
Stars,
Circle,
Fire,
Cosmic
Original painting in acrylic on canvas.
Original painting in acrylic on the reverse of a canvas, incorporating a small figurine on the bottom stretcher bar.
"In the UK we experienced the hottest summer since 1976. Towards the end of the the heatwave I watched Sun Ra's Arkestra play at a converted chapel in London. The legendary, experimental cosmic jazz pioneers seemed like they were a signal of life on earth, of which all is - at it's core level - a product of the sun's energy. They felt like a celebratory expression of sun-reliant, life-force resonating out into the darkness of the interstellar void. I vowed to create a piece somehow informed by the experience of the Sun Ra performance and the heatwave."
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Selected for: Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year 2017, John Moores Painting Prize 2014, Lynn Painter-Stainers 2015. Pre-selected for: Royal Society of British Artists 2015, BP Portrait Award 2015.
David OMs skyscapes and telescopes communicate a huge sense of scale. Observatories ogle upwards like giant eyeballs, and miniature figurines gaze outwards through trompe d'oiel windows – created by the frame that stretches the canvas. Showing us the back of the canvas in this way suggests that the image lies somewhere in the infinite yonder.
There is a sense of dignified Zen-like detachment to much of David OM's work, many of his compositions function through minimalism and juxtaposition clarified through studious critical practice. At the core of his work oscillates a pure sense of wonder alternating with a cold nihilism. His art often interacts with space science and astronomy whilst incorporating a metaphysical subtext that enables subject matter to assume new (often existential) symbolic meanings.
Astrophysics and figurine art are both subjects that capture the public imagination at present. Brian Cox meets London street artist Slinkachu with these playful reflections on the universe.