I generally write reviews on artists that I remember – not everything I see at an opening makes an impression on me.

Nick Savides’s paintings made an impression – they’re well painted ….. I just wish they were a little more interesting.

 

What would have made “Bales in the Field” more interesting?  Maybe a rabbit – or something in the painting that moves.

While I did not grow up on a farm, I spent several weekends and parts of each summer, when I was a teenager, at a house in Upstate New York that had a corn field next door.  I am used to the sweet smell of cut grass and like outdoor patios.  In fact, I used to paint scenes of that house from the outside – and often the smell of the grass and the dew, inspired me – sorta put me in a trance where I could feel more in tune with nature.

 

And it seems to me like “The Path” could have been a much better painting with just a couple of touches of color, and maybe an additional object / motif in it.

But then, the difference between something that’s “good” and something that’s “better” or “great” is in subtleties.

In fact, The Path reminds me of Van Gogh’s last painting (the one he was painting when he shot himself).

 

Granted, Van Gogh’s paintings are so strongly in our minds that it’s difficult not to see how much better this painting is to “The Path” – but the basic material – a path in what looks to be a cornfield – was much the same.  It’s the Ideation of the Artist – his passion that makes Cornfield with Crows a much, much better painting than Nick Savides’s “The Path”.

No matter what the technique is – no matter how interesting (or not your landscape, still life, portrait, abstract) it’s the vision the Artist brings to what they paint that makes the work interesting.

Maybe it’s not too late for Savides to figure this out; his was the only paintings I decided to talk about though two others were showing with him.

And the Nabi Gallery was only a couple of short blocks away from my office – had not known about the gallery before will try to make the next opening.