Nick Mobbs is based in Nottingham. He studied Fine Art Printmaking at Loughborough University (2006) and the Royal College of Art (2009). His practice combines photography and printmaking. His recent investigations focus on adults hiding themselves or concealing their identity in a way a child might hide (very visibly) under a towel or blanket. The resulting images are ambiguous, with multiple readings from the comic to the menacing.
Describe your practice for us:
I make photo-based prints (mostly screenprints and photo-etchings). For the last few years I have been working with images of people hiding themselves – I am interested in our reasons for hiding and in how we engage with these often quite ambiguous images. Recently I have been layering pattern into the images to help further hide their protagonists.
How long have you been practising?
Since graduating from the Royal College of Art in 2009.
What is the most interesting/inspiring thing you have seen/been to over the last month, and why?
The recent ‘One Day, Something Happens…’ exhibition at Nottingham Castle. There was a large piece in the show by David Noonan who is an artist I have admired for some time. The piece (Untitled, 2007) is strange and powerful. It is a screenprint on linen and is beautifully made too.
Which other artists’ work do you admire, and why?
Two artists I have been looking at recently are Phoebe Unwin and Luis Jacob. I love Unwins use of pattern in paintings like Man With Heavy Limbs. In Jacobs work he makes links (he says visual rhymes) between found images – I am interested in how we make connections between images and his series of Albums are fascinating with regard to this.
Where can people see your work?
I have a solo exhibition at Attenborough Arts Centre in Leicester between 7 May and 3 July, opening on
Friday 6 May. http://www2.le.ac.uk/hosted/attenborougharts/Contemporary%20Art/gallery-2
People can also see my work at my studio by appointment or online at www.nickmobbs.co.uk and www.axisweb.org/p/nickmobbs/
Nick was first interviewed in October 2015.
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