Nick Bodimeade English, b. 1957

Works
  • Nick Bodimeade, Gwithian, 2023
    Nick Bodimeade
    Gwithian, 2023
    acrylic on canvas
    signed to verso
    h. 71 x w. 76 cm
    (framed)
    £ 1,800.00
    Nick Bodimeade, Gwithian, 2023
    £ 1,800.00
  • Nick Bodimeade, Trendrine (II), 2023
    Nick Bodimeade
    Trendrine (II), 2023
    acrylic on canvas
    signed to verso
    h. 76 x w. 71 cm
    (framed)
    £ 1,800.00
    Nick Bodimeade, Trendrine (II), 2023
    £ 1,800.00
  • Nick Bodimeade, Connor Downs, 2023
    Nick Bodimeade
    Connor Downs, 2023
    acrylic on canvas
    signed to verso
    h. 100 x w. 120 cm
    £ 4,300.00
    Nick Bodimeade, Connor Downs, 2023
    £ 4,300.00
  • Nick Bodimeade, Above Hayle (II), 2023
    Nick Bodimeade
    Above Hayle (II), 2023
    acrylic on canvas
    signed to verso
    h. 105 x w. 120 cm
    £ 4,500.00
    Nick Bodimeade, Above Hayle (II), 2023
    £ 4,500.00
  • Nick Bodimeade, Trelowarren (I), 2023
    Nick Bodimeade
    Trelowarren (I), 2023
    acrylic on canvas
    signed to verso
    h. 105 x w. 120 cm
    £ 4,500.00
    Nick Bodimeade, Trelowarren (I), 2023
    £ 4,500.00
  • Nick Bodimeade, Trendrine (III), 2023
    Nick Bodimeade
    Trendrine (III), 2023
    acrylic on canvas
    signed to verso
    h. 105 x w. 120 cm

    £ 4,500.00
    Nick Bodimeade, Trendrine (III), 2023
    £ 4,500.00
  • Nick Bodimeade, Trendrine (IIII), 2023
    Nick Bodimeade
    Trendrine (IIII), 2023
    acrylic on canvas
    signed to verso
    h. 105 x w. 120 cm
    £ 4,500.00
    Nick Bodimeade, Trendrine (IIII), 2023
    £ 4,500.00
  • Nick Bodimeade, Nanterrow (I), 2023
Overview

NEW 2023 COLLECTION:

ECHOES OF LANDSCAPE :

NICK BODIMEADE

SOLO SHOW | OPENS SATURDAY 22nd APRIL


"The landscapes of Penwith and The Lizard… a higgledy-piggledy conglomeration of echoing forms… a jumble of fields, scattered buildings, lanes, hills and valleys, clouds shaped like bushes pushed by the wind, bushes pushing back like lumps of rock, and rock seeming to move as the viewer moves, confusingly, like the badly camouflaged Friesian cows that fragment the view with their stark patterning."

While Nick's previous ‘beach figures’ series of large, richly-handled paintings will be more familiar to regular visitors to the Porthminster Gallery, this new collection of Cornish landscape-based canvases is a fresh and engaging counterpoint in the artist's ongoing practice.

Biography

'I have been a regular exhibitor at the Porthminster Gallery with my paintings of figures on beaches and the abstracted spaces and patterns formed by the figures’ interactions, with sand, sea, light and, most importantly, each other.  So, I was delighted to be asked by the Director and Curator, David Durham, to turn my attention from the coast to the interior.

 

'Exploring the landscapes of Penwith and The Lizard by car, foot, and particularly by bike, I am always struck by its complexity: Its jumble of fields, scattered buildings, lanes, hills and valleys, its clouds shaped like bushes pushed by the wind, bushes pushing back like lumps of rock, and rock seeming to move as the viewer moves, confusingly, like the badly camouflaged Friesian cows that fragment the view with their stark patterning.  A higgledy-piggledy conglomeration of echoing forms, which is reflected in the paintings’ making: The sense of movement, the engagement with material and process, the echoing of forms, and the attempt to find the underlying patterns that keep chaos at bay. 

 

'There are also other echoes at play in this work: It’s impossible in painting this landscape not to be conscious of the achievements of Patrick Heron, Peter Lanyon, Sandra Blow, et al.  There is something about this landscape that feeds painting – maybe something to do with complexity, difficulty, resistance,  as well as its stark beauty, and extreme weather.

 

'The paintings in the show have their origins in particular locations, as the titles suggest, but in the end they leave the particularities of location behind becoming combinations of painterly elements that resonate with the viewer’s broader ‘sense of place.’'

Nick Bodimeade, March 2023

Nick Bodimeade lives, and works from his studio, on a 'meander core' island on the River Ouse as it cuts through the South Downs north of Lewes. 
 
Born in London in 1957 to artist and illustrator John Bodimeade and art teacher Renee, Nick grew up in Arundel alongside the River Arun, another Downland river.  He studied at Worthing and Wolverhampton art schools in the 70's and was strongly influenced by the painters Vic Willing and John Walker who were visiting lecturers.  For many years Nick worked as an abstract painter making dramatically coloured and shaped canvases, with a strong side interest in site-specific sculpture, all the while trying to reconcile his passion for representational drawing with the process-based abstraction he was intellectually drawn to.  In early 2000 - with the availability of digital photography, home computers and printers - he turned this around, putting photographically-based representation at the foreground of his practice, whilst still holding on to his passion for abstraction.  The 'beach figures' series, which regular visitors to the Porthminster Gallery will be familiar with, were a major product of that exploration.
 
Nick's engagement with landscape - both professional and recreational - goes back to his early days as a student when he began working on farms in Sussex and Mid Wales.  He has at various times been a shepherd, coarse fisherman, rock climber, farmworker, hillwalker, smallholder and mountain biker.  He says, "the sense of a physical engagement with the world is something I seek in my paintings and which I hope is evident in their facture.  The experience of landscape seems often to be a visceral, sensational one and I aim for the viewers' experience of my paintings to mirror this."
 
His works are held in private, corporate, and public collections including: The Government Art Collection; The Contemporary Art Society; The Landmark Trust; Blackwells Science; The Chichester Medical Center; and the Chiltern Sculpture Trust.
 
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2023 Porthminster Gallery, St Ives.  'A Landscape of Echoes'.
2016 Porthminster Gallery, St Ives. 'Beach Geometry'.
2013 Porthminster Gallery, St Ives. 'From Here'.
2011 Sarah O'Kane Fine Art, Lewes. 'Chromide St'.
2010 Campden Gallery, Chipping Campden. 'Sometimes a Blob'.
             Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel.
2009 Hybrid, Honiton. 'Recent Paintings'.
             Sarah O'Kane Fine Art, St Annes Galleries, Lewes. 'Winnebago'.
2008 Campden Gallery, Chipping Campden. 'Onomatopoeia'.
             Zimmer Stewart Gallery. Arundel.  'Beach Geometry'.
2007 HQ Gallery, Lewes. 'Dwelling'.
2005 Star Gallery 2, Lewes.  'A Day Last Summer'. 
2003 Star Gallery, Lewes.
2001 Star Gallery, Lewes. 
2000 Phoenix Gallery, Brighton. 
 
Selected Group Exhibitions
2021 Porthminster Gallery, St Ives.  'A Space to Breathe'.
2019 Porthminster Gallery, St Ives. 'St Ives Summer Show'.
2018 Porthminster Gallery, St Ives.  'Festival!' [2 person]
2010 Porthminster Gallery, St Ives. 'Coast' show.
             Joze London, Battersea, London.
             Chalk Hill Fine Art, Guildford.
             Sarah O'Kane Fine Art, AAF Battersea.
2010 Campden Gallery, Chipping Campden.
             Chalk Hill Fine Art, Guildford.
             Sarah O'Kane Fine Art, Lewes.
             Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel.
             Sarah Okane Fine Art, A  AF Battersea.
             St Art Gallery, AAF Paris
2009 Porthminster Gallery, St Ives. 'Spring Show'.
             Caxton Gallery, Whitstable.
             Sarah O'Kane Fine Art, Lewes.
             Sarah O'Kane  Fine Art, AAFAmsterdam.
2008 Campden Gallery, Chipping Campden.
             Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel.
             Sarah O'Kane Fine Art, AAF Amsterdam.
2007 HQ Gallery, Lewes.
             Campden Gallery, Chipping Campden.
             Pelham House, Lewes.
2006 Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel.  'Nick Bodimeade & Jim Partridge'. 
2005 Star Gallery,Lewes.
             Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel.
2004 Zimmer Stewart Gallery, Arundel [2 person].
             Corridor Gallery, London. 'Woof'
             Davidson, London.
             Lewes Contemporary Art, Thebes Gallery, Lewes.
Exhibitions