Sullen fairies, belligerent demons and other curious monsters - dark, whimsical contemporary art, all with a satirical edge and a twist of humour – Nancy Farmer’s paintings could be mistaken for fantasy art – but this is not quite accurate, rather, she holds a murky and distorted mirror up to ordinary life.
Her characters resonate with modern-day decadences - the fairies are delinquent; the devils bored, half-heartedly persecuting the Dammed merely because it is their job to do so; the guardian angel is fat and indolent, her rose-tinted spectacles shielding any wrong-doing from her 'watchful' eyes. A sad lost gentleman is found in a bar full of curious demons, but refuses to leave and admit he’s in the wrong place, while the smartly dressed devil is equally on edge in a rather tacky wine bar full of ‘ordinary’ people. Here are monsters and demons, certainly, but here are also our colleagues, friends and relations, and it is often uncertain quite which are which.
Nancy is largely self-taught as a painter. Having completed a degree in jewellery design at Glasgow school of Art, and an MA in Metalwork conservation at the V&A Museum, she turned to painting in around 1999. In 2002 she moved to Somerset and took up her artwork as a full-time career. She has exhibited in a number of exhibitions in the south of England, amongst these two solo shows in Suffolk and several joint and group exhibitions in Somerset and London. The Exhibition at ‘View from the Top’ gallery, in Nottingham, was her first major exhibition in this part of the UK. Her work may also be seen on a frequently updated website at www.nancyfarmer.net.
