arteles_catalogue_2014

IN THE RESIDENCY
October 2014
NICOLA WILLIAMS
UK
nicolawilliams709@gmail.com // www.nicolawilliams.net
I was brought up in Aberdeenshire, Scotland and I studied for my
MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art in London from 2004-06.
Recent exhibitions include a solo show at New Court gallery,
Derbyshire, Beep Wales 2014 International Painting Prize, and
Transition gallery, London.
I was brought up on a farm in the rural North East of Scotland
and this has provided me with a rich source of imagery, juxtaposed
with found images taken from storybooks and tabloid newspapers,
horror films and tales of playing children drowning in slurry pits.
The use of household gloss paint in saccharine bright colours and
‘Humbrol’ enamels normally associated with little boys painting
‘Airfix’ models belies the darker tone of the work, just as the layers
wrinkle and drip from the canvas.
My recent paintings are informed by the Public Information
Films of the 1970’s with particular focus on the film ‘Apaches’
(1977). ‘Apaches’ was produced to warn children of the dangers of
playing on farms and rural areas. It was shown in schools all over
Britain and other countries, it had a lasting effect on the mindset
of the children who viewed them. This terrified a generation of
schoolchildren at the time including myself.