Lot 393 - Nessie Ramm - Exit (moss and plantain)

Oil on aluminium
2025
A6 (10x15cm)
Original Artwork
Signed on Verso
Curated by Art on a Postcard

About
Nessie Ramm is a contemporary botanical and landscape artist on a mission to paint the road verges of Britain. She lives and works in East Sussex, where she also rewilds local verges. She gained a degree in Natural Sciences, specialising in plant biology, from Cambridge University before moving into oil painting. She has worked as an artist for over 20 years.

In her series of ‘Roadkill Cans’ Nessie finds drinks cans flattened by traffic in the road and paints them with a plant which was observed growing nearby. Each can is meticulously opened out and cut to shape to expand the painted area – only the can itself is used, nothing is added. These works contrast the wastefulness of humanity with the redemptive vigour of nature. Roadkill Can No. 9, depicting a dandelion, was found in Stockwell, London.

In her ‘Signs of the Times’ Nessie paints not one but a whole community of roadside plants, using a metal road sign as her canvas. Under her paint brush plants seem to grow over the familiar letters of signs such as ‘Reduce Speed Now’ or ‘Diversion’ and in doing so reclaim them and reframe their meaning. These works are both a celebration of the small wonders to be found in unloved spaces and a call for us to re-evaluate our relationship with the natural world.

In 2019 Nessie was artist in residence at Wadhurst Park Estate for a very special project. ‘In Celebration of Small Things’ is a 12-metre-long mural depicting the wild plants and associated invertebrates, birds and small mammals to be found on this nature-focused estate. Each species is painted life-size and labelled with its common name to provide a useful resource for staff and visitors.