“Each picture is a take on a world-famous painting, in styles ranging from pre-Raphaelite to art Deco. The works of art have been re-created down to the temperamental skies of Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus, or the bold daubs of a de Lempicka portrait. But they have also been ingeniously updated: Ingres’ Grande Odalisque is now equipped with a telephone; and in the Giorgione mock-up, as Venus sleeps, her mountain bike can be seen in the background. Common to each is a beautiful female central subject in a state of tasteful undress. Patrick Nicholas, the photographer, captures the allure of his subjects without resorting to gratuitous smut. He has done the classical masters proud.”
Metamorphoses betray a certain Japanese influence. They are flat, two-dimensional and narrowly vertical like a Japanese screen. Aubrey Beardsley has also been an influence throughout my career ever since as a youngster large prints of his decorated many a student’s wall in the 1970s. Some of the images were carried out in collaboration with sculptor Giorgio Bevignani. Another influence has been musical, Metamorphosen by Richard Strauss one of my favourite composers.
Landscapes that mainly explore a mysterious, ancient and welcoming territory of Central Italy, Northern Latium, Southern Tuscany and Western Umbria, known since Roman times as Tuscia.
