Things that look like rocks comprises of five works of ink on paper. The compressed landscape orientation of the works and vast areas of negative space reference traditional Chinese scroll painting. Drifting across these sparse surfaces are ambiguous sculptural shapes variously resembling rocks, mountains and clouds. The forms also recall Scholar’s stones – rock formations traditionally appreciated for their awkward symmetries and natural textures. Looking more closely, each painting is softly gridded on a perspectival plane, identical to the grids used in the production of 3D computer renderings. In some works, fragments of skyscrapers, synonymous with the contemporary landscape, are accurately inserted into the grid. These neat constructions contrast with the gnarled, rock-like forms that spill over the gridded lines.

 

In these paintings Nelson creates a delicate fusion of the contemporary and traditional worlds. He points to the rash rationalised urbanism at odds with the modes of thought coming from organic forms. More specifically, he addresses the dominance of the virtual over the directly experienced, and the gap between these two modes of engaging with the world. Nelson describes the looseness, tactility and unpredictability of painting as another way of ‘thinking’, and a vital means of extending his creativity in the digital realm:

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For Nelson, painting is an essential corrective to his methodical production on the computer. An investigation into classical Chinese art and philosophy is another complimentary countermeasure. As much an exploration of the relationship of the analog to the digital, Nelson’s practice is a meditation on the rich contradictions of the country and culture in which he has chosen to reside.

 

Scott Millington, Gallery 9, 2016

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