I am a tired yet largely contented man. Largely contented because I am cursing the volcanic belchings of that unpronounceable slice of Iceland that has kept me grounded in the USA for most of the last three days. I had been in the amazing state of New Mexico, opening an exhibition, Nick Veasey: X-ray at the Klaudia Marr Gallery in Santa Fe and I had a very enjoyable time learning about the art scene in the city which is apparently a major destination for international collectors and tourists with a passion for art.
Santa Fe is a relatively small city but it has a rich heritage in American arts and culture. The most notable artist that is associated with the city is Georgia O'Keefe and the Klaudia Marr Gallery nestles in Johnson Street right next to the Georgia O'Keefe Museum. I took some time to study the works in their natural setting and I was actually surprised with the parallels between my X-ray work and the fantastic paintings of O'Keefe. I loved her studies of plants, flowers and botanical forms; subjects which I have been exploring with my X-ray machines for years. It was astonishing to juxtapose O'Keefe's study of an Iris with my own X-ray Solo Iris or even her painting of a Rams Head which I had paralleled in my own work several years ago. One of the most striking things about her work is the adventurous use of bold colour and as my X-rays are developed from monochrome originals I am thinking of producing some colouring experiments when it comes to applying tones in the computer. O'Keefe has definitely been an inspiration.
My thanks to Klaudia Marr for mounting a very interesting exhibit which runs until the 7th of June at 229 Johnson St, Santa Fe, NM.
The exhibit in Santa Fe came hot on the heels of a very exciting gallery show at Galeria Tagomago in Barcelona. I was overwhelmed by the interest in my work and I welcomed the many questions and the curiosity that the pictures seemed to generate. The launch was great and my hosts Vincenc and Valerie were generous and well-organised to a fault. I was pleasantly surprised by the number of Spanish media outlets that came to observe the exhibition and ask me questions about my work and the process behind the artworks. I ended up conducting interviews with well over a dozen journalists and publications which was excellently coordinated by Galeria Tagomago - thanks guys!
You can see that I got involved with the mounting of the X-rays and the Mini car, which is huge looks fantastic on the wall of the gallery allowing a lot of natural light to fall on the pictures and reveal them in their full glory. The exhibition at Galeria Tagomago runs until the 12th of June.
