“I present together, in my drawings and sculptures, the inherent contradictions of life inside and out of the goldfish-bowl that formed the original basis for much of contemporary society’s ideas surrounding fame; power; desire and success, alongside their contingent aspects of personal and career destruction.“
Nina Mae Fowler is known for her detailed, large-scale drawings and installations. Graduating with a First in Sculpture from Brighton University in 2003, her techniques demonstrate a convergence of classical and contemporary influences. Known for her sumptuously detailed large-scale drawings and installations, her work principally draws on the themes of beauty, power and sexuality that are associated with the darker side of fame and Hollywood’s ‘Golden Age’. Deep psychological conflict, the turbulent mix of early black and white Hollywood glamour and its attendant dark-side are the focus of her drawings.
Since her nomination for the BP Portrait Prize with her painting of the Royal Ballet dancer, Carlos Acosta (2008), Fowler’s work has won widespread acclaim. In 2009, her monumental three-part drawing of Valentino’s Funeral was incorporated into a prestigious American public collection, following which her second largest body of work to date was acquired in 2012 by a Swiss public collection. Her works have been exhibited internationally, including frequent solo exhibitions in London, Paris and Leipzig. Her work is also included in private collections all over the world, with British film, music and fashion luminaries such as John Maybury, Jude Law, Caroline Issa and Sienna Miller among her collectors. Fowler has close working relationships with leading contemporary institutions, including the National Portrait Gallery, for whom she worked on a major commission of portrait drawings of leading film directors: Luminary Drawings.