Richard Nott’s paintings are constructed through a long and physical process – layer after layer of paint, bitumen and resin are arduously built up. The surface is then gouged, scratched and burnt revealing aspects of the works multi layered history – deliberated structural marks, often obsessively incised into them, etch out the architectural skeleton of the piece.
Nott trained originally as a sculptor and, given the works physicality, this perhaps come as no surprise. Difficult to categorise, these paintings evoke a wide range of associations. Time is a major ingredient in the construction of the work, allowing this to unfold eventually reveals the works own idiosyncratic history. When finished these paintings become a conduit by which the viewer can meditate or contemplate the universal layered passing of time.