Nick Sheehy – Clumsy Characters
Nick Sheehy is an Australian-born artist and illustrator currently residing in the south-east of England. After studying bronze sculpture in Tasmania, Nick gave up on art only to re-discover his love of drawing whilst living in London. In his stunning work, Nick explores the dreamlike, sometimes semi-autobiographical scenes and oddball characters that echo from his childhood imagination. He employs a laborious technique, building up layers of texture and thin color. The pieces infuse precision and attention to detail with random abstraction and clumsiness. He starts all work with a mechanical pencil on either Bristol Board, Moleskine or heavyweight drawing paper. He likes to work into a drawing with crosshatching or standard shading, using a combination of leads and then colors at the end with thin glazes of acrylic paint, color pencils or watercolors. The drawing, often rendered in black and white pencil cross-hatching, feel like chapter illustrations from an on-going epic saga. There is a vaguely medieval feeling to them: from the feathered costumes his minstrel chicken sport, to the general aura of magic and mysticism. His hybrid characters reminded me of Hieronymus Bosch’s mystic world. Undoubtedly, there is a story behind all of them. Perhaps it’s his characters’ hollow eyes that create the unsettling atmosphere, but the lovely pastel colors and delicate pencil work create something altogether beautiful.
