Irish artist Nigel Cox is an artist whose life is quite one of a kind: he went for the Transglobe Expedition after graduating and travelled the world for three years. After a personal and career development that ranged from watercolours and landscapes to digital illustration, he recently went back to oil paintings – and we’re happy he did.
The following collection of pictures features his figurative portraits. The portraits are minimalistic in their style, they are so incredibly detailed and at a first glance might even look like photographs. What’s so interesting about them, besides the wonderful look, is their meaning: as Nigel says, these portraits offer a glimpse beyond the everyday frenzied life. The solitaire figures in the open, wide spaces, are alone but not lonely, they seem looking for something, but untouched from anxiety, “anticipating yet calm”; their setting is a sanctuary of solitude. But it’s not the kind of imposed, sad solitude: it’s inner peace, confidence and self-intimacy.
These are our favourite figurative portraits, but there’s many more on his website.
