Nicholas Charles Williams

Nicholas Charles Williams is an artist in the truest sense of the word: a figurative painter who has exhibited (and garnered respect and awards) world-wide. His paintings render form in absolute detail, with a life-like resonance that can be ever so slightly haunting.

Perhaps a little less known in the art world is that Nicholas is also a very accomplished surfer, and in his distant past had a stint as a judge for some of the earliest ASP events held in Newquay.

Nicholas works in a converted lifeboat house in Newquay, and as part of the Newquay ‘Art8′ festival which is happening as I post, he has a selection of preparatory sketches and studies on show at Watershed on Bank Street (the Watershed boys were our March guests here on Hickory Nines).

Two such sketches, shown below, are for the painting Searching III. You can view the completed work on his website, here (cont.)

Nicholas was kind enough to take a few minutes out to talk to Hickory Nines…

H9: In Watershed, you’ve a few peparatory sketches on show that eventually became bigger, and well-regarded paintings. We’re obviously only seeing a small part of the development within these sketches. Can you let us in on the rest of the process?

NCW: Generally I carry ideas around for a while before sketching. It is also the time when I begin to clarify in my mind the type of physicality of the figures that will feature in the painting.

The initial sketches are primarily from imagination. Once I am comfortable with a composition and have found appropriate models to work with, I start painting. In recent years I have worked from the model direct onto the canvas initially with a light charcoal sketch, in the past I used to enlarge and transfer preparatory sketches. The models have to pose for a considerable time, often over many months.

H9: You could obviously base yourself in cities that would perhaps benefit your art and work in a more practical way but you’ve chosen to remain in Cornwall, and live by the sea. Is this a practical or emotional choosing? Did the head lead the heart or did the heart lead the head?

NCW: I based myself in Cornwall for surfing (which I got into around nine or ten years old) and for the landscape;  I also have great respect for the Cornish people.

Without doubt London and New York remain the power bases for collectors, dealers and critics. Cornwall however is unique and I ‘m convinced the ever present horizon (absent in most cities) lends itself to an openness of thought and all forms of creativity. Great waves add a counterpoint to studio practice.

H9: I read that you nearly drowned in Hawaii? I need to hear more…

NCW: The incident in Hawaii was during a trip with Dave Reed (founder of the UKPSA) many moons ago. Everywhere was huge and we checked out a break which we thought would be okay following a tip from the late Nigel Veitch who had been with us for a few weeks earlier and who had charged on the North Shore. Once out the back we soon realized we had badly misjudged it, we were way out, the few figures on beach looked like ants and what we thought was 6ft was in fact an ugly thick 10ft plus. Within ten minutes 12 to 15ft sets were coming through. We got seriously drilled by two outside sets and I swallowed a load of water in the process. Fortunately an extended lull gave us a chance to recover and scramble onto waves that took us out of the impact zone, mine being my saviour and the biggest of my life. Dave’s fear was elevated further by a whale surfacing next to him as he had sat outside.

Nicholas, outside of the studio… Photo by Geoff Tydeman

The Newquay Art8 Festival continues until the 21st of April. The work will remain on show at Watershed for an extended few weeks after the festival.

Read up more here….

Nicholas Charles Williams

Watershed shop

Newquay Art8 Festival

Nick Rosza in Mexico | Shot/Cut: Chris Papaleo | Music: “Lone Runner” by Dirty Beaches

See saltybeards.com

Hot sauce

South, south on the Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is a popular back-packers town with a heavy right-hand reef break. Turning up there and looking for a story I thought I’d write an article about an intense wave on a sleepy, reggae infused beach. Something like: “The mellow fishermen motoring back to shore, like to light up their smokes and watch the surfers slam into the reef”.

Of course life is never so obvious, and the truth is that we were at the end times of the towns old way of life and the beginning of the new. The banana plantations were closing down, and tourism was now in the ascendant, land being brought up quick and a core of expats moving in. Backpackers loved it, cheap rooms, cheap bars and cheap food were easy to find. There was a dark side too- unemployment and hard drug use. The border with Panama is a few miles away and a lot of jungle surrounded us.

Someone said I should meet Captain Zero, who had been in the town a long time and was also something of a legend, being a character in Weisbeckers novel ‘In search of Captain Zero’. A novel about a middle aged successful writer trying to track down his old chum from the days when they were surfing drug dealers. Word was Hollywood was about to make a movie, and I thought he would make an interesting interviewee.

I started asking Patrick , his real name,  about life in the town, he warned me off about featuring some of the local surfers in a journalistic piece.

‘We don’t like you writer guys buddy, we’d rather stay underground.’  He said.

He spoke loose and fast, with occasional ironic interjections. He wasn’t the easiest person to talk to, at times paranoid, at times expansive. He didn’t think the town needed anymore exposure. Quite a few of the expats were very uninterested in being found.

I changed tack and asked him about the surf.

‘Hell yeah, there’s some nice little zippers along the coast, they are magazine down there man.’ He said, his eyes were crystal dark in a milky sea. I was unsure whether he was friendly or not.

An old man now, he no longer surfed the famous break. He tended to live out of town. I wondered if he had anywhere to live at all. He gave me a monologue about his fight with Hollywood over the money he was owed for his about to be made portrayal. His rambling incoherence was interspersed with invectives against the machine, and his dream of operating a children’s charity.

I liked him, but he was lost. Drink, drugs and hard living had burnt him, leaving him fried, old and alone. He cycled off with his two dogs running around his wheels, trying to be proud, but the two beers I had given him had left him stoned and he wobbled badly on his bike and dropped the legal papers he had brought to show me. As I watched him go I realised I didn’t want to tell his story.

The next morning I got up early eager to hire a boat to get me into the channel to photograph some surfing. The waves were good, but from the shore you could only see white water. The wave was a below sea level dredger, a fall into the pit, with a critical bottom turn to miss the lip.  The only fisherman I could find was Sylvester, who’s laid back attitude was slowly disintegrating as he came down from a long night on crack. Because of the swell most boat owners were uninterested in taking me out, but Sylvester wanted to paddle me in a canoe. I was keen to go but not with this man whose gurning and twitching jaw was starting to lose control. As a last resort to get some money off me, he showed me a fresh livid machete scar on his arm, eighteen stitches rolling around his forearm, the result of a recent fight.

‘I no scared you, or no man, or no sea, we go now.’ He said, a touch of menace in his voice.

In the end I gave up on trying to photograph the wave and went back to get my board. Out in the line up the intense wave was no let up from the intense vibe back on shore. After a few waves I decided not to publish anything, there was no story. That was ten years ago.

A similar article to this was first published in KooK issue 1

Tracking by James Kinnaird

What’s not to like – Classic song, seventies video effects and some stylish surfing!

Inhouse Studio Presents: An exhibition by Karl Mackie

Beware the dark underbelly of the manufactured lifestyle of the monstrous surf industry. To many people, who by their very existence and way of life, create surf culture, it’s a very different and much more wholesome creature.

These exhibitions, for me, are about the curation of interesting and relevant art by artists and artisans inspired by our surf culture. Giving artists that are inspired by the ocean a new platform in which to present their work.

Inhouse Studio Presents: An exhibition by Karl Mackie April 7th – June 9th 2012

Watch the sound-slide below to see Karl setting up for this exhibition and listen to him discuss the inspiration behind his work.

Trippy.

Care of and korduroy.tv and The Surf Network, some vintage footage of the innovative Larry Bertlemann.

Two things you must check out in this video: Larry’s switch for Pipeline, and the Go-Pro’s very distant relative – probably sat in a dusty, helmet-cam retirement home somewhere near the sea now, telling stories.

Well, time certainly flies when you’re having Fun. Our week as guest contributors for Hickory Nines has flown past, we hope you’ve enjoyed our posts. Thanks to all at Hickory Nines for thinking of us. Here’s a little something of ours that we hope you will all like. Come and see us soon.

Watershed…

The famous ‘Jailhouse’ Trunks are set to return courtesy of a collaboration between Billabong and Greg Noll. Watch this.