Honest Love

This immensely detailed artwork by Nic Joly is a brutal, comedic, and relatable depiction of love. It contains over 50 components which takes the artist a day to construct before adding another 30 layers of paint. A contemporary take on the tragic love story of Romeo and Juliet, the impressive wall sculpture features aspects of romantic Italian architecture, earth from the streets of Rome, warm Mediterranean colours, as well as two star-crossed figures and a miniature blue vespa (cast in bronze from old watch parts).

Cast in bronze before being hand-painted, the two miniature figures in this piece stand against a bold and satirical statement by the artist which acts like the words of the characters scripted across the wall like graffiti. Here, the artist implies that when we are in love, we need to be honest and communicate; conjuring feelings of real life theatre. 

Nic Joly’s Spring 2022 collection continues to scrutinise the theme of love in art and unites around the concept that these pieces are not just for Valentine’s Day but, rather forever, in their bold yet delicate commentary on devotion. View the two artworks in this collection here.