Nick Holdsworth

Digital Artist: Nick Holdsworth - Originals and Limited Edition Prints:- 

Graphic artist and designer Nick Holdsworth has spent much of his career within the fashion and design industry. He uses a mix of pixelated images, silk screen, paint and air brush techniques to create his artwork.

Nick’s creative process is both playful and complex, and informs the entire message of each powerful portrait. Once he has chosen an image to work with, he will manipulate it using a pixilation process, this is a technique that requires vigilant control over the placement for each individual pixel (of which there are hundreds for each image).  

The pixilation is then overlaid with Nick’s chosen repeated icon, often a famous brand logo, which he identifies for its association with the chosen subject. An example of this is his Kate Moss portrait; this was based on a photo shoot she did for Playboy Magazine, so the graphic Nick chose to work with was the playboy bunny. Nick then adjusts the scale of these icons to enhance the definition to the overall subject and finishes by using airbrush and inks to add colour and tone to the painting, thereby introducing a hand finished and original element to each piece. 

This thoroughly modern, cutting edge process contrasts with the nostalgic nature of the images, which Nick says are inspired by the musical legends of his youth, and the hours spent flicking through his mother’s fashion magazines as a child. This unexpected combination imbues the pieces with emotional depth, occasional wit, and a surprisingly vintage style for something so contemporary.