Irish artist Ted Pim uses darkness as a tool to portray a moody and even macabre ambience throughout his works. Often in a manner that is subversively ominous, through the darkly lit canvases he emphasises the focal points of his work which are most notably beautiful assortments of flowers and baroque figures.
Read MoreThe dichotomy of creating art that has a cunning contemporary take on tropes, found in art history such as 17th century Dutch art and the Italian Renaissance, creates a surprisingly harmonious end result.
Pim's paintings are inspired by the old masters. In his studio, printed images of Dutch seventeenth century and Italian Renaissance paintings, among others, are tacked to the walls next to the canvases he is working on. Each painting can have a number of sources, so a floral work could be inspired by a Dutch Golden Age canvas and a dress from a contemporary fashion shoot can end up as the garb of one of Pim's figures, looking contemporary and Renaissance at once.
This mix of high art and mass produced imagery is in keeping with Pim's work, where references, direct quotations, source imagery, stories and personal associations meet. He builds singular paintings from multiple art historical sources, and the result is a personal vision, where, Pim says, he constructs his own reality.
Text courtesy Almine Rech.
