In the Studio: Nancy Cadogan
Interview in partnership with She Curates
Nancy Cadogan is a British American artist. She has been exhibiting her work globally since 2005 with shows in London, Oslo, Miami, New York and Southampton, USA. Her work features in some of the world’s most important private collections. She studied at The City and Guilds of London Art School and Canterbury Christ Church University before moving to New York in 2002. She had two solo shows at Frost & Reed, New York in 2004 and 2005.
In 2006, Nancy returned to the UK to present a new show of paintings about Ghana and Lake Como. After a quieter period raising her three children, she returned to creating new work, and in 2016 she was featured in group shows in Miami, Southampton and London. In 2017 Nancy returned to London to present ‘Still Reading’, a solo show, for Sladmore Contemporary in conjunction with Shapero Rare Books. Later that year, Nancy was selected alongside Tracy Emin, Rachel Whiteread and Cornelia Parker as one of 93 British female artists for The Ned Hotel’s Vault 100 collection, a permanent exhibition highlighting the disparity between male and female CEO’s.
In 2019, Nancy opened ‘Mind Zero’, a new series of 11 large-scale oil on canvas paintings to mark her first solo exhibition for The Saatchi Gallery, and signalling a new direction for the artist. The show was a sell-out success, praised by the art world and media with The Evening Standard describing her work as, “Heaven on canvas”. ‘Footnotes’, Nancy’s follow-up exhibition for The British Art Fair, continued the artist’s bold new direction.
In 2020 Nancy participated in numerous group shows with Lyndsey Ingram Gallery, Gillian Jason Gallery and Zuleika Gallery. In October 2020 ‘Gusto’ opened at the Keats Shelley House museum in Rome, celebrating the Bicentennial of Keats’s death.
2021 has seen her immersed in the subject of feasting, in response to her upcoming collaboration with The Land Gardeners and chef Lulu Cox for their book, ‘Soil to Table’.
Earlier this month we had the opportunity to have a tour with Nancy of her new exhibition ‘All the Good Things’, currently on show at The Cadogan Hotel, London, until October 31st.
Tell us about your current exhibition ‘All the Good Things’
‘All the Good Things’ is a presentation of 12 paintings which are going into a book called ‘From Soil to Table’which will be published at the beginning of next year. The book is a collaboration between garden designers and climate compost activist The Land Gardener’s and the wonderful chef, Lulu Cox.
How does the work in the show relate to your previous show in Rome?
The work in this show feels quite different to the work I made for ‘Gusto’ in Rome. The Rome show was an intense expression, meditation on the life of Keats, to celebrate his bicentennial, and thinking about how the time we were in echoed his experiences in lockdown. The paintings for ‘All the Good Things’ are entirely about celebrating the now, finding time to enjoy and relish the small and current moments, the beauty in the everyday and nature around you, celebrating friendship and nurture. The common thread in all my work is the emphasis on the idea of time.
Have the events of the last two years affected your practice, and a change in inspiration or process?
Absolutely. It is impossible I think for any artist not to be affected by the events of the last two years, or for anyone. The inspiration drawn from an increasingly domestic world, the emphasis on food and origins of food was extremely important. And finding the beauty in the everyday.
Here at CURA Art, we both studied in Italy, and I know the Italian culture is something that greatly influences your work, how do you think this translates into your final pieces?
Ahh! what a lovely question. Spending time in Italy is really everything. I never formally studied in Italy, but I have spent a whole lot of time there, as have my family so I see it as deeply part of our cultural tapestry. In terms of informing my work, I think a lot about the most wonderful big Italian spaces with works of art, or objects carefully places with in them. I think the placing of objects in my paintings is highly influenced by my time in Italy - and certainly the colours too.
Do you imagine the lives of your works in their new homes once they’ve left your studio? Do you keep in touch with those that collect your work?
I love to think of the paintings giving life in other people’s houses and collections. It is really the huge boost or boom of being an artist, that sense that your work lives on, way beyond your touch, and develops its own relationship with its viewers. I like to think about that. We spoke about how paintings, physically get better with age, and again this is a wonderful thought, the seasoning of paintings in the homes and collections of wonderful people.
What would you like your artistic legacy to be?
I would like my legacy to be having made work which touched people, and helped them slow down, find space, be calm, and paintings which help to be a sounding board for all sorts of questions and thoughts.
To find out more about Nancy’s practice, see her recent interview with She Curates.