Oil on Stretched Canvas. Size: 750mm wide x 1000mm high
Write up wriiten on this artwork by Durrelle Green, Harrisons Gallery General Manager
Hold on everyone we are about to go swirling down the gushing Haast river! As she tosses us from side to side, under and over, don’t put your feet down- hold them tucked up in your arms that way you can’t get snagged! That’s the amount of movement that I feel Nigel has evoked with this expressionist style painting depicting the South Island’s tumbling Haast River. I feel as though you could put your hand out and touch the cool water as it meanders down vertical rock faces to disperse at the bottom to a more tranquil river bed.
I am extremely attracted to Nigel’s free style of painting; using broad, expressive brush strokes. The way he suggests a place with such limited detail and yet you know it so obviously. He seeks
to avoid detail and cliché yet always captures the vitality and distinct character of the New Zealand’s landscape. This style of painting known as ‘Expressionism’ has been used by painters and adored by art lovers since the start of the 20th century. Infact some of the worlds most famous paintings were of expressionism style- the likes of Edvard Munch’s ‘The Scream’ or Vincent van Gogh’s ‘The Starry Night’. If only we (or rather our great grand parents) were wise enough to snap up paintings by these artists before they become artworks that only the extremely rich can afford!
The fact that Nigel is an educated man, having studied Fine Art at Ilam, Canterbury University of Fine Arts, shows in this painting. The way he has so brilliantly captured the raw, natural beauty and distinct character of New Zealand's Haast River, this sort of skill comes from an educated mind.
I think this statement from Nigel says a lot about this painting:"I try to bring a lot of spontaneity and immediacy to my work; I'm an energetic painter, expressive and colourful. If I become too careful I'm in danger of creating an image that is too stiff and contrived, which doesn't interest me...".
