GALLERY 2
Nahem Shoa works in a spirit similar to many of the innovative artists of history, such as Bellini, Titian, Raphael, Goya, Picasso, Balthus, Spencer and Rego, who all like him painted oil portraits from life, as well as making allegorical, visionary paintings from their imagination. Shoa goes out in nature, making intense studies of trees and the surrounding landscapes, which he incorporates into his other worldly landscapes. This dual approach gives his visual language a richness, that can only be informed from working from observation.
Nahem Shoa is a 21st century painter, concerned with the big themes of today, diversity, humanity, climate change, with nature becoming more fragile each year. Shoa sees himself as a visionary painter, about the NOW.
Shoa’s large 3 metre paintings of nature, London, race are unlike any other artists’ work today, although he fits into a contemporary strand of painting by Peter Doig, Chris Ofili, Michael Armitage, Riu Matsunaga and Anj Smith. Shoa like these artists has been inspired by Gauguin, Munch, Bonnard, Mantegna, Durer and Bellini.
Nahem Shoa is a 21st century painter, concerned with the big themes of today, diversity, humanity, climate change, with nature becoming more fragile each year. Shoa sees himself as a visionary painter, about the NOW.
Shoa’s large 3 metre paintings of nature, London, race are unlike any other artists’ work today, although he fits into a contemporary strand of painting by Peter Doig, Chris Ofili, Michael Armitage, Riu Matsunaga and Anj Smith. Shoa like these artists has been inspired by Gauguin, Munch, Bonnard, Mantegna, Durer and Bellini.
Tangible to In-Tangible. New work by Nahem Shoa. Article by Isobel Johnstone Curator of the Arts Council Collection 1979 - 2004
Shoa gets to the heart of the expressiveness of paint. "The artists Chris Ofili, Peter Doig, Gerhard Richter, Neo Rauch and Adrian Ghenie were important sources for these new ways forward."
Covid Odyssey is a series of coloured pencil paintings that explore the mythic stories around the Cover 19 pandemic: the metaphor of entering the dark forest into the unknown and our future destiny. Black lives Matter, Climate Change, Covid 19 and polluting our fragile planet with our waste all feed into the narrative of these works. We are all on a journey due to the pandemic, that has brought out all the injustices in our society, which have been seen but not seen. My characters in these paintings including myself are wearing the rainbow symbol of diversity, and are partly being hidden by the leaves preventing them from being seen, which reflects how society has kept certain people invisible. My work has always been about shining light on what deserves to be seen, but due to racism and class have been kept hidden.
