Nigel Van Wieck
Nigel Van Wieck
Nigel Van Wieck (born 1947) is a renowned British painter.
Biography
He was born in Bexley, Kentel, United Kingdom. He studied in Europe in 1947, where he had the opportunity to meet the work of the great masters, his styles and aesthetics to develop his own. In 1979 he moved to New York City, United States, where he currently lives. There he was influenced by contemporary North American realists.
"I am a narrator and the viewer is my audience, but before that, while I am sitting at my easel, I am a member of the audience that is going to be captured on the canvas".
Nigel Van Wieck[5].
Van Wieck usually paints directly with oil or pastel paint on canvas.
He is directly inspired by scenes from real life.
In his paintings you can see women illuminated by the light of his Mac in the gloom of his room, pensive commuters on the subway, lonely tourists in an environment that seems desert when in fact it should be crowded.
When he prepares a work, he does it by observing his models and uses his photographs and memories[5].
Since the late 80s, he has been doing thematic series like Working Girls, players and dance.
“The characters of the painter Nigel Van Wieck located in everyday places show feelings of loneliness and melancholy at the very moment of disconnection with the environment.
His compositions are seen from strategic angles creating a specific perspective with the intention of inviting the viewer to stroll through the scene.
Lights, shadows and colors as a tool to make the flat surface a realistic and close narration with the amazing ability to make us believe that these images also move”[6].
“It is impossible to look at Wieck's painting and not recall Edward Hopper's. Most of his scenes are taken from real life, in which the artist seems to behave like "a voyeur"[5].
In 1995 he exhibited at the Venice Biennale Centennial Exhibition and his work is highly valued by collectors around the world[7].