Una británica en Chile: Paige Nicholas’ illustration

 

On Saturday the 10th we’ll be making a reception/art show for our dear friend and art director Paige Nicholas at PURGA, a real nifty fashion shop at the Barrio Bellavista of Santiago (Chile). We’ll have ourselves an afternoon of good music, glasses of champagne in our hands in a place set to enjoy and discuss the relation between subcultures, illustration and fashion design.

 

Roxy Club girls wearing their winter coats and femme fatale glares in fine ink strokes, or a male model, photographed by Derek Ridgers, his lips turned magenta with gloss, fluorescent cobalt eyeliner over his dark skin, a spiked choker on

his neck. Then there’s teens in goth and punk outfits – those who, much to our surprise, still walk the streets of Santiago – with the contrast maxed out in thick brush strokes pulsing with vitality: this is how Paige’s works feel.

 

Soo Catwoman, acrylic on postcard. (Paige Nicholas, 2018)

 

Born and raised in Plymouth, a city on the UK’s southwestern shores, she enrolled in the Winchester School of Art to help flourish her penchant for illustration. From the beginning she showed an interest in the diverse musical and urban subcultures and their aesthetics, starting out with those from her country (mods, teddy boys, skinheads, punks, ravers you name it) and then expanding towards each tribe or modern clique she’d bump into on her travels, on which she remarks:

 

“(Here in South America) it’s completely different to the UK, so it’s very exciting to experience different aspects of cultures. When I visited Sao Paulo, the beautiful street art and colours really inspired my work around that period. Specifically in Chile, what inspires me is how previous subcultures are still around: such as goths, emos and punks. Illustration and art styles reflect culture so seeing how styles differ here from the UK is extremely educational.”

 


 

Three pieces from the Santiago Youth Culture series (Paige Nicholas, 2017)

 

Dropping some mean names she’s quick to clue us in as to who her have been her idols:

 

“In the early days Pat Perry was a big influence on the way I worked. I really loved how he would travel America and illustrate the people he met and transfer what he’s seen into dream like pages. When I started my foundation diploma I learnt more about art history so people such as Egon Schiele and Jo Brocklehurst became influences.”

 

“My main inspiration throughout has always been Vivienne Westwood. In my eyes she will always be a punk, even now with her protests for the environment. She is ever evolving and adapting to the world around her which I think is very important for a creative.”

 

Vivienne Westwood.

 

Egon Schiele.

 

On her illustration we can find a very fine eye for stance, gestures and attire: the constituents of charisma and each subculture’s particular aesthetic. This, coupled with her academic formation, lead her to experiment with other expressive languages like sculpture and fashion design:

 

“These methods came about in university. My tutors always pushed us to experiment and be bold, so I tried different ways to take my illustrations off paper and these are the methods I came up with. Clothes just made sense with my Subculture series, because fashion is a massive part of each movement, from teddy boys to ravers.”

 

This affinity for D.I.Y. fashion match perfectly with the attitude towards design shown by PURGA, which is the base of operations of the think-tank formed by QueremosNuevo + Club Particular + Darkmatter. The creations of these santiaguinos represent a veritable B-Side of Chilean fashion, opting for an iconoclasm that, as we all known, can’t be anything else but chic.

 

 

Garments from final major project at Winchester School of Art (Paige Nicholas, 2016)

 

If you’d like to spend this Saturday afternoon celebrating the D.I.Y. ethos, well, you know where to find us 😉

 

Saturday 10th March

3 to 9PM

Tienda PURGA

Antonia Lopez de Bello 90, Recoleta, Santiago.

https://www.facebook.com/TIENDAPURGA/