16 x 16 cm | 6 x 6 in
Subject: Abstract
Original mixed media painting and sculpture in acrylic on the reverse of a canvas, incorporating a small figurine on the bottom stretcher bar.
"'Spacewalk Return' confronts the viewer with an actualised, 3-D version of the astronaut from the 2-D Spacewalk series, dimensions are twisted and reconfigured. The reversed frame device from the 'Painting Is Infinite series' serves as the portal from which the astronaut makes his return. The piece also alludes to Nietzsche's eternal return theory where moments in time still exist in a trail of events that loop infinitely."
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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.