Nick  Whittle

Detail of "Kiss No.1." Mixed media on watercolour paper 71 x 50 cm Date:1983, Location: Collection of the artist This painting was exhibited in 1985 as part of an exhibition representing a bridge between work produced in two very different worlds; Newcastle upon Tyne, England and Barbados but with similar critical responses. “These paintings are for those who are hungry for life.”, Duncan Newton, Aspects No.4, 1978 and “He aims to portray the universal emotions and feelings of love, birth, death and tenderness through the human figure”, Alison Chapman-Andrews, Sunday Sun, 30th January, 1985. « previous image next image »

Occupation: Artist

Art Education:

School: Moseley Road School of Art, Birmingham, UK Date: 1965 - 1972 College/University: Manchester Polytechnic, UK Date: 1972 - 1973   University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK Date: 1973 – 1977

Fellowships awarded:

Sunderland Polytechnic, UK. Fellowship in Painting

Professional Associations:

AICA (International Association of Art Critics) Southern Caribbean

Statement

During the last three decades my work, regardless of scale, has followed a pattern of production which can most sympathetically be compared to that of a diarist. This can be observed in the immediacy of execution and through the continuing narrative, which each successive piece of work belongs. This work is not planned in a traditional manner but is the result of an intuitive selection of gestures and images which are created through a variety of processes. There are also no mental images or sketch to guide the process. The work begins with the initial first mark or image and gradually evolves into whatever it is to become. In reality, a person can only have a single focus, but the imagination can venture down all possible paths. I see maps, recurrent symbols such as the heart, the phallus, the sun and the shell as a metaphor for my journey in life. I use colour and pattern to evoke aspects and periods of my life. Images develop and unfold as a work or series develops. A heart in an earlier work evolves into an image of dual sexuality in a latter piece. Continual references to self are not excursions of vanity but an effort to find an objective correlative for my emotions. In subject matter they are highly personal and raw. Sometimes l look at the work and am shocked by the realization that l have succeeded, once again, in overcoming the censors, wherever they reside.

Keyworks:

Brixton Blues Bus Kiss, 1983, gouache and monoprint on watercolour paper, Barbados Gallery of Art.   Dunloe Mirror III, 1985, chalk pastel on watercolour paper. Collection of the artist.   Full Fathom Five, 1996, mixed media on watercolour paper, Barbados National Art Gallery Collection.   My Naval String Buried Here IV, 1997, gouache and chalk on watercolour paper. Collection of the artist.   Ithaka I.I, 1998, chalk on paper. Collection of the artist.   Ithaka II, 1998, mixed media and gold leaf on watercolour paper. Central Bank of Barbados.   Memories of Landscape I, 2001, Mixed media on watercolour paper. Collection of the artist.   Memories of Landscape V, 2004, mixed media collage on watercolour paper, Embassy of the United States of America, Barbados.   Mindscape II, 2004, mixed media collage on watercolour paper. Collection of the artist.   Innerscape I –VI, 2006, mixed media collage on watercolour paper with canvas extensions. Collection of the artist.

Exhibitions (Group):

3rd Biennial of Painting of the Caribbean and Central America, Dominican Republic, 1996   Metamorphosis: A Change of Heart, The Art Foundry, St Philip, 1997   Sixth International Biennial of Cuenca, Ecuador, 1998.   Sixth Triennale Mondiale d'Estampes Petit Format in Chamalieres, France, October - November 2003   Barbadiana 2006 -A traveling exhibition of Contemporary Art from Barbados, Galerie JM’Arts, Paris, BA-CA Kunstforum, Tresor, Vienna, ACP House, Brussels, Queen’s Park Gallery, Barbados.

Exhibitions (Solo):

One Artist One Day, Robert Self Gallery, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, 26th March 1976   One Year Out, Hatton Gallery, Department of Fine Art, University of Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, 1978.   Drawings and Prints, Durham Light Infantry Museum and Arts Centre, UK, 1979.

Publications (Written):

1990 Reflections on Barbadian Architecture, three part series, Barbados Advocate News, March 5 -7. Date: 1990   ‘The Development of Barbadian Art during the period 1930 - 1993: The Decolonization of the Landscape’, Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society 60th Anniversary issue Vol, XLIII Date: 1998   ‘Art in Barbados: What kind of Mirror Image?’ Cummins, Thompson & Whittle Date: 1999   ‘The Past is Present: Contemporary Architecture in Barbados’, NOU Magazine. Date: 1999   ‘Inner Riot’ catalogue text, William Cummins recent work. Date: 2005

Publications (Discussed):

‘One Year Out’, Duncan Newton, Aspects No.4 (Aspects is a Quarterly Journal of Contemporary Art published in the North East of England). Date: 1978   ‘Recent Paintings’, Tony Kellman, Bajan Magazine. Date: 1985   ‘Metamorphosis: A Change of Heart’, catalogue essay Allison Thompson Date: 1997   ‘Art in Barbados: What kind of Mirror Image?’ Cummins, Thompson & Whittle, Date: 1999   ‘Caliban’s Metamorphosis’, Therese Hadchity, Artheme: Art contemporain caraibe – Revue trimestrielle No. 4. Date: 1999

Commissions (Public):

Wallsend Mural, Newcastle upon Tyne, UK, sponsored by Northern Arts. Reproduced in ‘Painting the Town’, Graham Cooper and Douglas Sargent, Phaidon 1979. Featured in Aspects No.1. (Aspects is a Quarterly Journal of Contemporary Art published in the North East of England).   Carifesta Mural Project Team Leader, St.James Secondary School, Barbados. Members of the team included: George Simeon of Guyana, Pedro Oliva and Roelio Lopez Marin of Cuba. It was reviewed in The Nation, August 5, 1981. The mural was destroyed shortly after completion but is reproduced in ‘Art in Barbados: What Kind of Mirror Image?

Commissions (Private):

Design of decorative Glass Panels at ‘Bellerive’, St Peter, Barbados, former home of the actress Claudette Colbert c. 1998.

Collections (Public):

Barbados Gallery of Art.   Central Bank of Barbados.   Embassy of the United States of America, Bridgetown.   National Art Gallery Committee.

Collections (Private):

Jane Gifford and Jamie Telford, UK.   Simo Kuurne, Finland.   Alison Chapman-Andrews, Barbados.   Therese Hadchity, Barbados.

Awards:

Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation Award for the Most Outstanding Work in Mixed Media, Barbados. Date: 1985   Incentive Award for Outstanding Use of Media, National Independence Festival of the Creative Arts, Barbados. Date: 1985   Central Bank of Barbados Crop Over Fine Art Exhibition Purchase Award. Date: 1998   Frank Collymore Literary Endowment, Third Prize (Poetry). Date: 2003