Narc. Magazine Online
Reliably informed
The artist has created a new series of collaborative works inspired by lockdown
Image: Untitled (Bench) 1ii by Narbi Price, watercolour on paper, A4, 2020
Seeing the beauty in things around us has been tricky of late, but essential to seek. It became apparent to artist Narbi Price how our society had changed when he noticed pals posting pictures of benches enrobed with red and white hazard tape. It meant that nobody could use them; their existence was there, but their purpose was paused.
With Price being unable to access his studio, he worked in a smaller space and started to use watercolours to show these images, creating new exhibition Lockdown. “I gave friends instructions on how to compose source photographs for me, and this is a chance lockdown collaboration, between the worker who wrapped the benches, my friends who photographed them and myself who painted them,” Narbi illustrates. The result feels desolate and tinged with sadness. However, there is an unusual attractiveness to the images as the tape ebbs and flows through the gaps. As a collection of twenty paintings, they’re engaging and handsome.
In the second part of the show, there are eight small but incredibly detailed drawings. All showing a section of Narbi’s hometown of Hartlepool that puzzles the community, he has captured pieces of the ancient town wall where it is butted up against breeze blocks and jetsam from a new estate. Overall, the two sections of art complement each other, and the sharp-witted creator has produced a mysterious glimpse at our current, unbalanced world.
Narbi Price’s Lockdown exhibition is available to view on his website. He’s currently running a Kickstarter to raise funds to print a limited edition publication featuring the Lockdown series of paintings, support the project here.
