NICK GRINDROD: SLIDE

For his debut solo show with Maddox, titled ‘Slide’, British abstract artist Nick Grindrod unveils a brand-new body of work, created especially for our Gstaad gallery.  

Grindrod’s use of geometric forms and composition is joyful and intriguing. Lines oscillate between colour and pattern with a playful precision, enriched by his removal of paint, layering and use of sponges, scalpels and sandpaper. This evidence of skilful craftsmanship gives each work a unique patina and nostalgic quality, inspired by the industrial past of Sheffield, Grindrod’s home city in England.  

The artist’s signature use of colour is woven into each work. Expressed through a gestural, painterly technique that breathes life into his intuitive forms, colours slide from one hue to the next in a clever use of juxtaposition. 

Among the new works on show in Gstaad, Kintsugi, named after the Japanese art of repairing broken pottery, reveals Grindrod’s renewed focus on mark-making as an artistic device. The rigour of the artist’s lines contrasts with the irregular patterns partly hidden behind, obscured by an opaque, abraded veil of paint.

In Swim with Sharks and Lonesome Pine, Grindrod explores a more muted colour palette, highlighting the power of colour when used sparingly, in stripes of pinks, purples, blues and oranges. Small Victories, meanwhile, takes the letter V as a starting point, with the artist overlapping and layering his graphic shapes and painting shadows to emphasise the illusion of depth. 

“The name of the show, ‘Slide’, is a great analogy for my practice,” says Grindrod. “I intuitively work in ‘real time’, making decisions in the moment to build up layers and experiment with filters of paint. I find this process to be the most rewarding because it gives my paintings a real sense of freedom.”