July 26 - August 18, 2019
Nick Candela– Dealing with the Archive
Paintings
Helena Davis Gallery
Opening Reception
Friday, July 26, 2019
6:00 - 9:00 pm
Free and Open to the Public
Closing Artist Talk
Sunday, August 18, 2019
2:00 pm
Free and Open to the Public
Artist Statement
Based on an idiosyncratic process, my work is a reorganization of the vulgar into dynamic iterations that emphasize the strangeness of the references' origins and functions. Illogical spaces, inconsistent scales, and ambiguous transitions become the principles for paintings whose resultant erraticism belies the calculated intent of the original.
The collaged and layered work of post-modern artists such as David Salle and Robert Heinecken serves as a conceptual point of departure. Preparatory studies are made by first printing appropriated images (often taken from print-media advertisements or "influencer"-type social media accounts) onto acetate transparencies, which are then projected onto a wall to be manually rotated, flipped, and re-scaled. These variations are again photographed and printed, and become the maquettes for the finished work.
I am coming to realize that this call and echo, the constant projection and recopying of my process, as well as the layered replication of the paintings themselves is both an exercise in self-preservation and an imperative for reflection. The image-riddled gauntlet of our contemporary population seeks its hosts. To destabilize, cut apart, and reassemble its progeny of highly contextualized text and images is to resist assimilation. This miasma is distillable, however, and I believe that to be painting�s essential purpose. From representation to abstraction, the expressive capabilities of the subject, medium, and mark cohere in defense of humanity, presenting at once what is, what has been, and what could be.
Brief Biography
Nick Candela was born in Wyandotte, Michigan, in 1980 and received his MFA in Painting from Savannah College of Art and Design in 2017. Candela's paintings consist of images and text, in varying states of definition, that meld assorted themes into high-key and often absurd milieus. Subjects in his works are born of images plucked from various media and then reused to create dissonant mélanges that approach but barely avoid the familiar. His work is held in private collections across the country, and in the permanent collections at the University of Mary Washington in Fredericksburg, VA as well as here at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He has also been featured in Studio Visit Magazine and in CreativPaper, a digital publication. Nick Candela lives with his family near Richmond, Virginia.
More information: www.nickcandela.com
Purchase artwork from our online store
