Jorge Nesbitt

The body of work presented by Jorge Nesbitt to this competition arises in the wake of a series of gouache paintings on paper, inspired by Indian and Persian coloured and gilded manuscripts. In the present series, the starting point is also pre-existing images, retrieved in this case from books purchased in markets and second-hand booksellers. Rather than using it solely as a source of inspiration, Nesbitt works directly upon this material.

The images chosen by him are primarily representations of works of art, but several derive from other sources, such as birthday cards. The act of painting upon existing pictures, poses questions of appropriation and subversion that are highly pertinent in this era of mechanical and digital reproduction of images and of all the questions associated to that reproducibility. On the other hand, it encourages an ironic reading of the artistic universe in confrontation with kitsch and popular culture.

Several of the underlying works can easily be recognised, such as reproductions of paintings by Goya or Velazquez. The artist is required to make an additional effort upon these works in order to hide the original image without obscuring it. Nesbitt achieves this difficult task through games of transparency and opacity made possible through the use of oil paint.