Garry Nichols

Artist Bio:

I exhibit in New York including with Monique Knowlton Gallery, Pierogi Gallery, Sideshow Gallery, Parallel Art Space, The Drawing Center, Leo Castelli Gallery, Artists Space, Factory Fresh Gallery, Parallel Art Space, Pierogi Gallery, and DC Moore Gallery. In Australia, my exhibitions included a group show at this museum - The Art Gallery of NSW purchased drawings, a major painting by The National Gallery of Victoria. My artwork is included in collections in New York, Japan, and Australia. Selected awards include the Elizabeth Foundation for the Arts Grant for Painting, the New York Foundation for the Arts Fellowship in Painting, Gottlieb Emergency Grant. My painting “Lost in the Caves” is featured in “An Anthology of New York Painters - I Don’t Poem”. I self-published a book “Garry Nichols: Paintings”.
 

Artist Statement:

I was born in Tasmania. Much of my work produced in New York depicts this vegetal and mythical world. The process of bringing this to the canvas, for me, begins by immersing myself in its history, extracting and repeating shapes based on my notes, and drawings while mapping out structured pathways, intensifying and expanding as I progress. I then proceed to paint it, into my narrative. The pathways invite the viewer to meander amongst its landscape, with plant forms, symbols, early convict carvings, and historical ships that journeyed to the early colony. The palette for my paintings reflects the lush colors I experienced in this wondrous landscape. I desire to transport the audience with me on my journey, one that evokes a multiplicity of interpretations and emotions.

​

My work depicts the vegetal and mythical world that is Tasmania. The process begins by immersing myself in this history, extracting and repeating shapes based on my drawings, mapping out structured pathways, and intensifying and expanding as I progress. I then paint it into my narrative. These paths invite the viewer into my paintings to meander amongst its landscape, populated with plant forms, symbols, convict-carved heads, and shapes of ships. 

​

The palette for my paintings reflects the lush colours I experienced wandering in this wondrous Tasmanian landscape, as a child around the Derwent River, the hills above Lindisfarne, and later amongst the eucalyptus and pandani bush in the South-West, Huon Valley, and Bruny Island as an adult.

​

I desire to transport my audience on a journey, one that evokes a multiplicity of interpretations and emotions. I allude to the mystery of nature, its ferociousness, and its underlying structure. And to remind us of human history, what we have done to others and have brought upon ourselves. I celebrate the landscape of Tasmania.