Nigel Humphries
Summer 2025

Following the success of his well-loved Party Animals, Nigel Humphries has centred the iconic teddy bear as the subject for his May 2025 collection. Dressing the anthropomorphic bears in the style of different subcultures, the artist uses layered sentimentality to evoke strong feelings of nostalgia. The quintessential childhood teddy bear and the aesthetics of subculture movements combine to create a broader cultural nostalgia for bygone eras in a whimsical and playful way. Teddy bears are deeply ingrained symbols of comfort and innocence, so their recontextualization into these subcultures is thought-provoking.

A hybrid of real and toy animals, the bears are incredibly expressive, using just their eyes and the angle of their heads to communicate with the viewer. Although the bears are all the same size and design, Humphries gave each of them its own personality through their individual aesthetic. We see piercings, hats, tattoos, and colourful hair amongst other accessories. Wanting to retain the ‘toyish’ look of the bears, Humphries chose not to clothe them, instead experimenting with a new concept of adding design elements into the fur itself. The artist hopes that these intricate details allow the viewer to relate to the bears as adults, whilst being reminded of memories from their youth.

Featured Art (L-R): 'Never Mind The Pollocks' and 'Rasta Bear'. Hand-signed giclée on canvas board limited editions by Nigel Humphries.

Inspired by Rembrandt and the Old Masters, Humphries paints in a distinctively Renaissance style, using intense oil pigments to create a sense of depth and life within each painting. Using the colours of each bear to build the backgrounds, the artist creates a pleasant contrast between his classic style and the whimsical subject. These calming, muted backgrounds combine with a striking sense of realism created through a delicate play of light - reminiscent of Renaissance portraiture. This pushes the subject forward, making it look as though the bears are posing for their portraits.

Layering paint to create depth, the artist gives a luminous, lifelike quality to the textures within the painting, from canvas bucket hats and silver hoop earrings to the fur of the bears themselves. Employing the chiaroscuro technique, often used by Renaissance artists to add volume and dimension, Humphries lends a dramatic, reverent effect to each painting, creating gentle shadows to give each bear an authentic, yet statuesque, appearance.

Featured Art: 'Rock and Roll II'. Hand-signed giclée on canvas board limited edition by Nigel Humphries.