About the Exhibition
Following on from the successful launch exhibition Masao Obata: Drawing Happiness in Red, the Jennifer Lauren Gallery presented their second exhibition Blinko and Neate: Unlocking Worlds. Teaming up with London based Henry Boxer Gallery; this exhibition showcased the intricate monochromatic drawings of Nick Blinko and Chris Neate.
Taking their inspirations from different sources, both artists share a highly detailed aesthetic and intensive, sometimes obsessive working process. Blinko represents his thoughts about his illness and the effects of his medication whereas Neate allows his hands to produce automatic creations dependent upon his frame of mind.
Part artist, part lead singer of the heavy punk band Rudimentary Peni, Blinko has a cult following who appreciate him on both levels. His drawings depict fantastically intricate confrontations with his own demons yet not all the faces in his work are malignant: among the skulls and fractured dolls, there are ironic faces and mischievous things. Blinko said: “My initial intention was to try to depict melancholy … I got frustrated at the attempts to depict suicidal depression realistically, and I got more and more into detail.”
Chris Neate attended Art College in Leeds in the 1970’s but never completed a foundation course nor did he feel he was given any formal training. He became involved in the avant-garde music scene and illustrated the record covers for emerging bands including Softcell’s ‘Tainted Love’.
During his time working as a hospital social worker with older people he drew sporadically. His need to draw intensified over the years. Neate said: “I think that I get some degree of comfort from drawing and if I do it intensely then I can get into quite a meditative state and lose myself in the process.”
Jennifer Gilbert said: “Both artists portray a fantastical attention to detail with microscopic precision, with messages in their works that may or may not be obvious to us. By placing them side-by-side I wanted to show how two artists that are compelled to draw, for varying reasons, produce complex works that fascinate the viewer and lead us to reach for a magnifying glass.”
With thanks to Tony Thorne, Consultant at Kings College London, and Vivienne Roberts, Curator at the College of Psychic Studies London, for allowing me to use parts of their texts on each artist to write this.