NICHOLAS BLOWERS Edgeland

Edgeland was a term coined by the British geographer Marion Shard and it refers to the overlooked places on our doorstep, the urban edge. In our towns and cities it is a place where the urban and rural negotiate and renegotiate their borders. The Tasmanian Edgeland exists in its own unique way and much of it would be familiar the world over; the dilapidated remnants of human endeavour are there to be found alongside the mental asylums, Retail Parks, ruins, recycling centres, wasteland and bridges with scribble pad tagging on their pylons. If our early years form our imagination then mine was formed in places such as these. The Edgeland was where you played and sought out adventure, the outskirts of town offered the promise of mystery. It is far removed from the heritage core of the inner city or the important "getaway" destinations of established beauty. It doesn't offer the promise of Heritage walks, Coastal walks, Bush walks or Art walks. And it doesn't have the sanctioned access of the landscaped council park. To be observed enjoying these places engenders no suspicion at all but it is a very different story when wandering on the fringe. Observe the expression on the face of the car driver when he passes you on the main Road out of town as you stroll down a well-worn desire path into scrub land and it says up to no Good!. And why would you be skirting the boundary of a retail park or semi-derelict mental asylum with your camera? In fact to take a walk outside of the urban centre into the fringe of any town and city is often to be met with barbed wire and suspicion; A slightly subversive pursuit, where it is possible to find a unique feeling of remoteness. Over the past winter I have undertaken a number of walks and often the things I have observed on those trips; buildings, bridge pylons or man-made structures are weathered and scarred with the vagaries of life and reflect my interest in the grubby and prosaic. The neo-romantic painter, John Piper, described the act of civilisation being claimed back by nature as the pleasing state of decay. These places are imbued with a sense of the previous inhabitants and show peoples lives continuing to play out against them. Within the overlooked and marginal places of the city there is a great tradition in wandering and observing. It is possible to reconnect with an earlier literary tradition via contemporary writers Ian Sinclair, Stuart Home and the historian Peter Acroyd to writers such as Daniel Defoe, William Blake, Thomas de Quincey and Robert Louis Stevenson. The Psychogeographer Ian Sinclair's book London Orbital traces a journey he made on foot circling the M25 and it is this change of geographical focus and imaginative reworking of the city that interests me. Within this tradition there is mystery beneath the apparently banal surfaces of everyday life and the focus is often on the fringe elements of the city. These writers have in common a connection with London, of urban and rural wandering and often employ Gothic imagery to symbolise the mystery beneath the modern city. Nicholas Blowers

Nicholas BlowersFreestyle 2013

oil on paper, framed61 x 104cm

$4,200

Nicholas BlowersBrewery 2013

oil on paper, framed89 x 85cm

$5,000

Nicholas BlowersAsylum Bridge, New Norfolk 2013

oil on paper, framed48 x 79cm

$3,200

Nicholas BlowersBreaststroke 2013oil on paper, framed

61 x 80cm

$3,500

Nicholas BlowersDF + JD 2013

oil on paper, framed108 x 108cm

$5,500

Nicholas BlowersJordan River Bridge Pylon 2013

oil on paper, framed57 x 104cm

$4,200

Nicholas BlowersUrban Occult Markings 2013

oil on paper, framed57 x 104cm

$4,200

Nicholas BlowersTower 2013

oil on canvas, framed81 x 75cm

$4,000

Nicholas BlowersShadow Man, Winter morning 2013

oil on canvas, framed85 x 62 cm overall

$3,700

Nicholas BlowersThe Wall 2013

oil on canvas, framed91.5 x 105cm overall

$5,500

Nicholas BlowersRoad Stop 2013

oil on canvas, framed61.5 x 78 cm overall

$3,500

Nicholas BlowersDownpour 2013

oil on canvas, framed85 x 62 cm overall

$3,700

Nicholas BlowersTangled Copse, New Norfolk 2013

oil on canvas, framed85 x 62 cm overall

$3,700

Nicholas BlowersTree. Storm. Sun 2013oil on canvas, framed26 x 32 cm overall

$1,200

Nicholas BlowersNew Norfolk Block, Winter 2013

oil on canvas, framed26 x 32 cm overall

$1,200

Nicholas BlowersCopse, New Norfolk 2013

oil on canvas, framed23 x 42.5 cm overall

$1,300

Nicholas BlowersWillow Court 2013

oil on canvas, framed23 x 32.5 cm overall

$1,200

NICHOLAS BLOWERS

1972 Born in the U.K, lives and works in Tasmania

Education

1991- 1994 Southampton Institute, Hampshire, UK, BA Honours, Fine Art

1989 1991 Braintree College, Essex, UK, BTEC Art & Design

Solo Exhibitions

2013 Edgeland, Bett Gallery, Hobart

2012 Recent Paintings, Bett Gallery, Hobart

Ephemera, Mick Gallery, Sydney

2009 Rivulet, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney

Regrowth, Bett Gallery, Hobart

2008 Narcissus, Dickerson Gallery, Sydney,

2007 Recent works, Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne

2006 Recent Works, Dickerson Gallery, Sydney

Recent Works, Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne

2003 Coastline Figures, FX Art & Framing, Sydney

Selected Group Exhibitions

2011 Preview Exhibition & Honours Award Exhibition

Group show, Mick Gallery, Sydney

2008 Group show, Boutwell Draper Gallery, Sydney

2007 Art Melbourne 07, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne

Land, Sea and Sky, Dickerson Gallery, Sydney

Land, Sea and Sky, Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne

2006 Art Melbourne 06, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne

Black & White, Dickerson Gallery, Sydney

2005 Gallery Artists, Dickerson Gallery, Sydney

Off the Wall, Art Sydney 05

Awards and Grants

2013 Hutchins Art prize, Tasmania

Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize, South Australia

2012 Glover Art Prize, Tasmania

2011 Hobart City Art Prize, Tasmania

Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, Adelaide Museum,S A

Glover Art Prize, Tasmania

2010 Kedumba Drawing Award,NSW

Glover Art Prize, Tasmania

2009 Paddington Art Prize (winner), NSW

Glover Art Prize, Tasmania

2008 Fleurieu Art Prize, SA

Glover Art Prize, Tasmania

2007 Paddington Art Prize (winner), NSW

Kings School Art Prize (winner), NSW

Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, Adelaide Museum (short-listed, Highly

commended), SA

2006 Doug Moran Portrait Prize, Mitchell Library (short-listed), NSW

2005 Archibald prize Salon de Refuses Finalist, S.H.Ervin Gallery, NSW

54th Blake Prize, Sir Hermann Black Gallery (short-listed),NSW

Art on the Rocks, NSW

Collections

Artbank

Parliament House collection

Macquarie Bank collection

Selected Bibliography

Art Collector, Oct- Dec 2011, What Now?

Studio International, June 2008

Rising Stars, Belle Magazine, April/May 2007

Blackhouse, M, The Saturday Age, 24 March 200

Webb,P,Preview, The Age, 18 March 2007

Australian House & Garden, Dec 2006

Australian Art Collector, The Art of Matter, Judy Ostergaard,

Smart Art, Carrie Lumby, Issue 37, July/Sept 2005