Along Came a Spider
2005
oil on canvas
1829 x 2439mm
Nicky Hoberman’s paintings remind us of the wonders and absurdities of childish imagination and play. Along Came a Spider as with other paintings from her mid-ninties Girls series, take their titles from children’s nursery rhymes and explore nuances of innocence and awareness.
Despite their age her two subjects are self-possessed and appear to look straight through us, staring out from the canvas with an all-knowing and ironic gaze. One protagonist is depicted performing gymnastics, seemingly oblivious to another child that occupies the same space; while another appears unfazed by a playful cat at her feet and a leaping mouse. Though sharing the same canvas and literal landscape, they inhabit vastly different emotional spaces. The uncanny mix of assertiveness and naivety of her characters suggest concepts of displacement, isolation, and identity in an uncertain landscape.
Nicky Hoberman’s style is distinguished by contrasting sfumato and impasto paint-handling; combining an air-brush realism with expressionist gesture.
Born in South Africa (1967) an early itinerant lifestyle influenced the development of Nicky Hoberman’s aesthetic. Hoberman was schooled in South Africa, Oxford, Boston, New York and Paris, and completed her MA at the Chelsea College of Art and Design, London.
Highlights of her career include inclusion in advertising magnate and contemporary art collector Charles Saatchi’s exhibition and publication The New Neurotic Realists. Nicky Hoberman has exhibited in numerous galleries and museums worldwide. Recent exhibitions include: Hof and Huyser, Amsterdam, Holland, 2008; Offspring: Representations of Children in Contemporary Visual Culture, Boston University Art Gallery, Boston, 2006; Dead Bird Show, Whitechapel Project Space, London, 2003; Strangely Familiar, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England, (touring exhibition), 1997; New Contemporaries 96, Tate, Liverpool and Camden Arts Centre, London, 1996. Her work is represented in major international collections including: the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne; The Berado Collection, Museum of Modern Art, Sintra; Magasin 3 Stockholm; The Walsall Museum and Art Gallery, Walsall; Tokushima Modern Art Museum, Osaka; Saatchi Collection, London; Nigel Moore’s Charitable Foundation, Liverpool and The Kent Logan Collection, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, CA.