Focus on Patrick Nash
& his solo project with Cluster Crafts
by Issey Scott
Patrick Nash (b. 1959, Buffalo, NY) works across art and design in the medium of neon. Cluster has been working with Patrick Nash since exhibiting his breathtaking works for the first time in October 2018. The next collaborative project will be at Cluster Crafts’s Fair in October. Based in the iconic London landmark, the newly commissioned works will not only respond to the interiors of this unique environment, but will offer a mesmerising interactive element, responding directly to the movement of the viewer as they traverse through and engage with the space. Fusing a level of functionality and interactivity alongside a visually striking aesthetic will form one of London Design Festival’ s must-see showcases.
In a world of excess, Nash’s work is distinctly minimal and clean, using single lines in his work to produce concentrated spaces of light. Neon is a medium steeped in a rich modern history, and is compelling to audiences within and beyond the art world due to its highly commercial appeal. When discussing his own practice, the artist cites the tedium of anticipating an emotional response between an artwork and its viewer, and in his simple yet enticing figures there is certainly less of an emotional pull; instead we instinctively gather around them. The very nature of neon allows the subversion of the traditional one-directional gaze towards an artwork. We then find ourselves enveloped in a new space created by the artist; it is installation art without the architectural structure.
In modern art history, neon has been used significantly in both Abstract and Conceptual movements, and while this is rooted in the fabric of neon art’s identity, it is not strictly adhered to by twenty-first century artists and, certainly, in Nash’s practice. Given its fairly mainstream use outside the art world, there is an inherent element of the cheeky and the kitsch in neon, and other forms of light art. Nash’s work is incredibly well-considered, resulting in not only a sculpture but an experience nodding to its peers and history. The interactive element of the work is certainly a nod to the future and the potential of the medium, bringing about an air of excitement and re-energising of neon to the realms of art and design. In his artist statement, Nash says “I guess I just got sick of looking at things”, and in a world where we spend a considerable amount of time scrolling through inane imagery, this is certainly a salient admission. For this new commission, we are invited not to see the artist’s new work, but to be inside the environment it creates, and observe ourselves just as much as we observe the piece.
Nash has exhibited over many years across New York, Florida, Washington DC and London, and while his work is more reminiscent of the metropolis, the joy of his sculptures is that wherever they are physically located, they are able to evoke the artist’s vision. They are indeed a bold statement whether displayed in the gallery space or a private collection.
VISIT PATRICK NASH’S PROFILE HERE TO SEE WORK IN PROGRESS PHOTOS AT HIS STUDIO FOR HIS UPCOMING SOLO EXHIBITION PROJECT