Nat Hardidge takes his own approach to art - blending a number of styles together to create new and original ways of looking at images of the everyday. He's interested in beauty - beauty that may pass by unnoticed because unless you've got your eyes open, it may seem mundane. His work is currently on display at Camberwell's Bar None, with an exhibition of new images on the way. He took the time out to shed some light on his own personal creative process, his development of his own style, and the inspiration for his pieces.



The actual steps of creating works are complex...

'I build up layers of different paint textures, acrylics, watercolours. Then I scrape the paint back to reveal underneath layers, and then I do sort of pop images over the top- not so much popular culture images but images that are instantly recognizable. I guess the big philosophy of my art is to make it accessable to people.'


But before Nat gets to the stage of actual creation, there's a lot of work to be done. First of all, the inspiration for any given piece has to come from somewhere, and it's often from ordinary, everyday moments.

'It's interesting, because I'm inspired by beautiful simple things. From an old man feeding pigeons to a child playing with stones, I guess I try to capture images of the everyday, beautiful images that you kind of walk right past and don't give a second thought about, to focus attention to that.'


Rather than a simple re-creation of a scene though, Nat puts his own spin on the scenes that inspire him.

'Oh definitely. It's quite urban in its look, with influences of pop art as well as a lot of street art as well. That's where I started off doing my art, with a lot of stencil work.'



In those early stages of artistic development, Nat fortunately didn't have to live the cliché of the family that wanted to see him pursue less creative interests.

'I've grown up with my mother being a painter, my father being a sculptor, my grandmother being a potter, and my siblings also do art of different types as well. My mum was the type of mum that if you drew on the walls she'd put a frame around it rather than tell you off. She was really encouraging of artistic inspiration. It was something that was ingrained in me as a language of sorts, it was the way that we communicated a lot between us, in our family.'


A brief stint of study provided a broader knowledge base for Nat as he developed his own unique style, a process that continues to this day.

'Like I said I've grown up with my parents being really encouraging of my artistic expression as well as teaching me some art history, and some conceptual stuff as well. I did study at Box Hill TAFE for a year, doing an arts course there. More so for the studio space and the facilities, but it was helpful in a way. I guess it's more been a personal journey of development.'



That development has seen a shift in what Nat has been producing as well as a change in his own personal creative philosophy.

'Originally I started off doing a lot of art just for art's sake- bringing in a lot of religious themes and political themes, and it wasn't really me. It didn't really grab me; the passion in me wasn't strong enough in those things. Now I've sort of come back to this place of beauty, and I think a lot of artists do that.'