13 Paintings Inspired by Nick Cave | Charlie Smith London

Collector and curator Angela Koulakoglou invites 13 painters to make work inspired by the lyrics of Nick Cave. Inc. Daniel P. Carter, Maggi Hambling, James Johnston, George Shaw, Rose Wylie.

This exhibition was conceived over a year ago and its timing is prescient; Cave’s latest album, 'Ghosteen', was released with a
hallucinatory painting as its cover in October 2019. Unprecedented in their visuality and striking in their ability to conjure
apocalyptic landscapes, all the songs on 'Ghosteen' are visions. As Cave embarks on a world tour in 2020, a conversation between
his lyrics and painting becomes all the more relevant.

‘I can’t write a song that I cannot see’, Cave once stated. Having started his career as a painter, he soon turned to
song writing and over several decades has produced a body of lyrics unparalleled in their consistent richness, unforgettable
imagery, and unique combinations of darkness, humour, despair and hope. Drawn from songs written throughout his career, the thirteen paintings included in this exhibition are testimony to the fertile but often unexplored territory that lies between the arts. Three of the artists
present are musicians: James Johnston was in fact a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds between 2003 and 2008; Emma
Bennett is the bassist for Dear Thief; and Daniel P. Carter, who also hosts BBC Radio 1’s Rock Show, performs with metal group
Krokodil.

The participating artists represent different generations, backgrounds, and ethnicities and they approach their art in different
ways. Each one has ‘seen’ their painting in Cave’s lyrics in a reverse trajectory to that of the poet. Connecting word to world, the
paintings in this exhibition occupy the space in between, opening up new imaginative possibilities. Deeply personal, unexpected
and moving, poetry meets image in these thirteen powerful paintings that stretch our sensory and spiritual boundaries.

The event will take place at CHARLIE SMITH LONDON, 336 Old Street, Shoreditch,