Perfectionism: a trick of the eye

Curated by Becca Pelly-Fry

July.16 - September.16.2020

Nicolas Feldmeyer, Even After All 2, 2014, Resin coated silver gelatin print mounted on Dibond, 100 cm x 67 cm, 39 in x 26.4 in, Edition of 5+2AP

Nicolas Feldmeyer

Born in 1980 in Switzerland, Nicolas K. Feldmeyer lives and works in London. Nicolas earned his MSc in Architecture in Zurich before he went on to study Fine Arts at the San Francisco Art Institute on a Fulbright Grant. Feldmeyer received an MFA with distinction from the Slade in 2012. His work has been awarded the Saatchi and Channel 4’s New Sensations First Prize 2012 and the William Coldstream Prize amongst others. 

Even After All Series

The Even After All project is a series of photorealistic, computer-generated landscape images I have been working on for five years. The landscapes are entirely created in 3D, including rocks and trees, and the gigantic architecture of light. Sublime romantic paintings such as C.D. Friedrich, architectural utopias from Étienne-Louis Boullée to Superstudio, the work of Japanese photographer Hiroshi Sugimoto or Land Art pioneers like Walter de Maria or Robert Smithson are all sources of inspiration, as well as my native Switzerland.

Nicolas Feldmeyer, Even After All 7, 2017, Resin coated silver gelatin print mounted on Dibond, 150 cm x 100 cm, 59 in x 39 in, Edition of 5+2AP

“The contemplation of space and light is core to my practice. There is an idea of stillness and vastness that moves me. Sometimes I work in the real, physical space, with site-specific installations and public art projects, and sometimes with imaginary spaces on paper, in the form of drawings, watercolours, digital prints, screen prints and collages. The space I find most fascinating is the ‘elsewhere’, the space you can never reach but only long for.”

Nicolas Feldmeyer, Empty Pool, 2020, VR 360º panorama

Empty Pool is a Virtual Reality panorama, constructed in 3D software. It allows the viewer to step into an imagined landscape, loosely based on a childhood memory of the artist.

Nicolas Feldmeyer, Archway 3, 2020, Giclee print on Hahnemuhele Photorag paper, 60 x 90 cm, 23.6 in x 35.4 in, Edition of 5+2AP

Archways Series

Archways is a series of imagined landscapes with monumental architecture, entirely constructed with 3D software. Drawing upon pictorial traditions of the capriccio, the romantic sublime and megastructures, they were inspired by a feeling of awe felt when contemplating things far beyond our grasp.

Feldmeyer’s works open a contemplative perspective onto the world. Inspired by archaic monuments, the Sublime landscape and abstraction, his practice is primarily concerned with space and light, explored in a range of different media, from large installations to videos, from drawings to digital renderings. Between the exactly measurable and the atmospherically inaccessible, Feldmeyer articulates a silent search for what lies before or beyond words.

Installation images.

Feldmeyer has exhibited at galleries and institutions internationally including; Photographer’s Gallery (London), Flowers Gallery (New York), China Academy of Art (Hangzhou), Maddox Arts, MC2 Gallery (Milan), UCL Art Museum (London), Encounter (London), Angus Hughes (London), Griffin Gallery (London), Onassis Cultural Centre (Athens). His work has been reviewed in the Times, Sunday Times, Art Monthly and published extensively. Feldmeyer has been a guest lecturer at the AA School of Architecture, Cambridge University, ETH Zurich, The CASS, Metropolitan University, and is Associate Lecturer at Camberwell College, University of the Arts London. His work is included in numerous public and private collections worldwide including The British Museum, UCL Art Museum, British Land and The Leslie Collection.