Artist Profile: Pete Nawara

American artist Pete Nawara is fascinated by one thing: beauty. It's possible that he finds other stuff interesting too, but basically, for him, beauty is the thing. Beauty, of course, can mean a number of different things: a pretty face, a hot body, a great painting... But beauty also always has to do with concepts of beauty. Ok, so that sounds obvious, but beauty is not just intrinsic: concepts of beauty vary (often quite dramatically) according to society, culture, historical period etc. You wouldn’t see Titian's plump white ladies on the front cover of Vogue, for example.

Nawara's is quite a straightforward concept. He has his subjects pose in front of a camera as if it were a mirror. They 'check themselves out': they pout, frown, style their hair, smooth their wrinkles, adjust their ties... Nawara then takes these images, fiddles with them on a computer for a bit, projects the finished composition onto a canvas, and colours it with thinned acrylic paint, gouache markers, and gold leaf.

This process is interesting in that the finished images portray individuals engaging with themselves, worrying about the parts they don't like or admiring the parts they do. Nawara explores the way in which people see themselves, and how this can never be direct or objective. The way in which he distorts the images and lends them a kind of computerized pop-art aesthetic echoes the way in which identity is always (at least, in part) an effect of the consumption of media.

One major thing that Nawara can be admired for is that he seeks quite resolutely to leave excessive theorising to others. Not for him the nonsensical po-mo claptrap spouted by those whose work cannot stand alone without lengthy paragraphs of sub-Deleuzean explanatory flim-flam. Nawara rejects what he describes as "endless babbling" in favour of this simple statement: "I strive to make objects that are aesthetically pleasing".

So, on these terms, does he succeed? Well, there's quite a heavy pop-art vibe. If you hate Warhol, then you might not like this stuff. But there's more too: Nawara's work is not simply slick or advert-flat. Man in a Houndstooth Suit, for example, shows both boldly clashing patterns and a sensitivity in the depiction of differing facial expressions. And the use of gold leaf in works such as St. Peter imbues the subject with an almost kitsch quasi-Catholic beauty. Direct but also quite subtle, intelligent but mercifully not over-theorized, Nawara's paintings are definitely worthy of greater attention.

To see Pete in action, head on down to uptownboogiedown on 9th March 2008.