The Lonely Man

“They Fuck you up, your mum and dad. They may not mean to, but they do.” - This Be The Verse by Philip Larkin. The Lonely Man is a deeply personal project by self-taught photographer and former Head of Art at leading advertising agency M&C Saatchi, Nicky Hamilton. The thirteen piece tableau explores the artist’s childhood relationship with his father, a relationship that the artist describes as being conducted through “a maze of police raids, guns, drugs, violence and, ultimately, redemption” after the Essex Builder was declared bankrupt in the 1980s. The Lonely Man draws on Hamilton’s characteristic method of designing and building elaborate sets to create pictures of extraordinary detail, narrative and emotional power.

Nicky Hamilton (British, born 1982), is a photographer and former Head of Art at leading advertising agency M&C Saatchi. His method is highly filmic, designing and building elaborate sets to create pictures of extraordinary detail and narrative. His work explores characters’ emotional states by playing with performance and symbolism in order to produce deeply evocative moods.