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The Heiress | 2000, oil on canvas, 40x30 inches/each canvas
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As a figurative painter, Nicholas Zann explores
human relationships. He often works with
the diptych format, in which each panel contains
one figure, or figures are juxtaposed with objects.
The divide between the panels is telling
about the relationships in which Zann's protagonists
engage.
Men and women, children and adults, friends,
lovers, competitors - they all face the truth of
their nature by means of unusually direct pairings.
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For instance, the image of a man and woman
sharing a ride in a limousine, both looking
outside the opposite window, says a lot about the
lack of interpersonal warmth and loneliness. But
it doesn't stop there. Zann is a storyteller. While
he might just provide his audience with one
frozen frame at a time, he leaves us guessing
about what came before and what will come
after. We are lured into a world in which the
chain of coincidences determines the outcome.
While immersing ourselves in Zann's paintings,
we might learn less about the anonymous people
before us than about ourselves.
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