Artist: Nick Mobbs

When visiting this summer's RCA ONE show, I remember vividly walking past Nick Mobbs pictures and thinking them silly and non-nonsensical. Something drew me back to them, however, and the more I looked at them, the more bizarre and unsettling they seemed, whilst at the same time becoming strangely familiar. The title of the work is Dens and Lairs and it evokes both child-play and fear. In the leaflet that I picked up, the artist tells how "a structure made from cushions and blankets might protect us from fears that the brick walls and locked doors of the house cannot keep at bay". He also explains how these dens "harbour the imagined horrors from which we sought to hide", thus becoming lairs.

It's a very clever concept that finds suitable visual expression in the pictures shown here:

Nick Mobbs
Green Sofa Bed, 2009, screenprint, 99 x 132 cm

Nick Mobbs
Tower 2, 2008, lithograph, 65 x 45 cm

I also happened to come across another one of his pieces at the Royal Academy of Art Summer Show 2009. You can see it here.

Further Information
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Nick Mobbs - Artist's Website
RCA feature on the artist