Artist Highlight - Nick Holdsworth Art

Artist Highlight - Nick Holdsworth Art

Artist Highlight - Nick Holdsworth Art

The Studio 74 Gallery Official Launch Party showcased a range of work from acclaimed National & International Artists. This article's artist highlight is the outstanding Nick Holdsworth.

Nick’s creative process combines iconic images with intricate mosaic detail. He then adds precision painting with an airbrush, giving himself little margin for error.

Early years

The Fashion Industry

Nick had a background in design. Prior to his success as an artist, he was established in the fashion industry with his own label, ‘Purple Om / Random’. In 1998 it became a cult T-shirt brand that was sold all over the world. It was available in high-end department stores such as Harvey Nichols, Harrods, Liberty’s, Collette in Paris and Barney’s in Tokyo.

Interest From The Art Industry

It was Nick’s unique techniques and style that began to gain interest from the art industry. He began to explore ways to express his love of fashion and culture through individual pieces of fine art. Utilising the digital skills gained from his design background, Nick was able to experiment and produce a unique mixed-media style.

Unique mosaic

Nick’s creative process is both playful and complex, and informs the entire message of each powerful portrait. Once he has chosen an image to work with, he will manipulate it using a pixilation process, this is a technique that requires vigilant control over the placement for each individual pixel (of which there are hundreds for each image).

Creating Icon Pixel

The pixilation is then overlaid with Nick’s chosen repeated icon, often a famous brand logo, which he identifies for its association with the chosen subject. An example of this is his powerful portrait of Mohammed Ali; who famously said ‘Float like a butterfly, sting like a bee’, therefore the graphic Nick chose to work with was a butterfly.

You Ali - Nick Original

Little Margin For Error

Nick then adjusts the scale of these icons to enhance the definition to the overall subject and finishes by using airbrush and inks to add colour and tone to the painting, every piece is hand finished and original. The process is complex and Nick doesn’t use stencils, so leaves very little margin for error.

Innovative & Dynamic Art

Nick Holdsworth is a highly innovative and dynamic artist whose works feature icons including Audrey Hepburn and Madonna to cult films like True Romance. Nick says are inspired by the musical legends of his youth, and the hours spent flicking through his mother’s fashion magazines as a child. The juxtaposition of a modern cutting edge process contrasts with nostalgic subject matter, creating a depth and style to his work which is completely unique.

Famous Collectors of Nick Holdsworth Art

Freddie Mercury’s sister and Brian May both hold Nick’s portraits of Freddie in their private collections.

View Nicks Artwork

Nick’s original artworks are highly sought-after, contact us to enquire about the available collections. We can also provide a private viewing of his artworks.

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