Marcus Nelson: Scar Tissue
11th June – 17th June 2021
The Bomb Factory
Unit 2,
9-15 Elthorne Rd
London N19 4AJ
Scar (noun) – “A mark left on the skin or within body tissue where a wound, burn, or sore has not healed completely and fibrous connective tissue has developed.” Tissue (noun) – “Any of the distinct types of material of which animals or plants are made, consisting of specialised cells and their products.” The Bomb Factory Art Foundation is pleased to present ‘Scar Tissue’, the debut solo exhibition by London-based artist Marcus Nelson. Nelson presents a series of large-scale paintings that explore the theme of mental ill health amongst young men, exacerbated by the pressures of trying to achieve the masculine ideal.
This subject has long been of interest to the artist, who, in 2018, co-founded ‘Boys Don’t Cry UK’, an art collective that raises public awareness regarding male mental health and suicide. The paintings explore trauma as experienced by young men conforming to stereotypes of masculinity. Nelson shows
us tortured bodies fighting and grappling in gyms, where painful emotions are kept just below the surface.
Having practiced boxing and mixed martial arts whilst growing up, these aggressive contact sports and the physical and mental experience of them have provided the artist with a rich vein of inspiration for his work. Photoshopped images of boxing and wrestling figures provide the basic forms for his paintings. The bruised and flayed bodies twist and writhe on the canvas, illustrating some moments of intimacy but also of extreme violence.
Marcus Nelson: Scar Tissue opens on the 11th June until the 17th of June 2021 at The Bomb Factory
Book here: Eventbrite.
https://www.instagram.com/marcus___nelson/
©2021 Marcus Nelson, The Bomb Factory
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