Conceptual Photorealist
My paintings employ photorealistic illusion to create unnerving believability and unmask deeper truths of existence, where the beautiful flirts with the grotesque. By bringing technical precision to unlikely juxtapositions, I urge the viewer to question familiar assumptions and pierce the surface of what we often take for granted.
Biography
Nicholas was born in 1981 in New Haven, Connecticut and remained in the New Haven area until 2008, when he relocated to Austin, Texas. Following a lifelong passion for creative self-expression, as a high school senior he was granted placement in the Visual Arts Department at the Educational Center for the Arts, a magnet school in New Haven CT. He then attended the Paier College of Art in Hamden CT (Dean’s List) where he learned the basics of sharp-focus still life painting in the classical “Trompe L’œil” style.
Nicholas has shown fine art works in several group exhibitions each year since 2003, Including the Austin Visual Arts Association’s annual juried exhibitions and the 6th Annual Juried Exhibition of the International Guild of Realism, into which Nicholas was accepted in 2011. In 2005 he and several others painted alongside renowned contemporary artist Alex Grey at his NYC studio COSM, in a multifaceted collaborative performance. This was followed in 2008 with participation in a live painting performance in Philadelphia alongside Alex Grey and wife Allyson Grey, called Visionary Primitive.
He held his first solo exhibition entitled Surfacing in Easthampton, MA in 2007. This body of thematically-unified work featured photography and 10 oil paintings which, when arranged correctly, combined to form one large image. Viewers were invited to piece the symbolism of the works together on their own with the help of a written statement and a drawing reminiscent of a map legend, which were provided at the opening.
Two follow-up exhibitions entitled Healing and Rebuilding, with themes and subject matter branching off from the Surfacing works, were held in August 2009 in Phoenix, Arizona and February 2010 at Last Rites Gallery in New York City. In 2011 Nicholas expanded upon these overarching themes in another solo show called Reclaiming at Nisus Gallery in Portland, Oregon.
2012 saw Nicholas return to Last Rites Gallery with another solo show of new works, entitled The Apostasy, and be accepted into the Art Renewal Center’s yearly juried International Salon publication as a finalist in the still life category.
Education
1999-2000 Paier College of Art, Hamden CT
1998-99 Educational Center for the Arts, Visual Arts Dept., New Haven CT
Honors/Awards
2016 “Best Floral Award”, 11th Annual International Guild of Realism
Exhibition, Gallery 1261, Denver CO
2013 Finalist, Art Renewal Center International Salon Competition (Figurative Category)
2012 Finalist, Art Renewal Center International Salon Competition (Still Life Category)
2011 Granted membership to International Guild Of Realism
1999-2000 Dean’s List, Paier College of Art
Solo Exhibitions
2016 “Blood Rituals”, Sacred Gallery, NYC
2014 “Perception Of Being”, Mindzai Creative, Austin TX
2012 “The Apostasy”, Last Rites Gallery, NYC
2011 “Reclaiming”, Nisus Gallery, Portland OR
2010 “Rebuilding”, Last Rites Gallery, NYC
2009 “Healing”, Pravus Gallery, Phoenix AZ
2007 “Surfacing”, Off The Map, Easthampton MA
Group Exhibitions
2016 “National Juried Trompe l’oeil Exhibition”, John F. Peto Museum, Island Heights NJ
“11th Annual Juried Exhibition”, International Guild of Realism, Gallery 1261, Denver CO
“Tattoo Forever”, Museum of Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
“Flesh To Canvas”, Last Rites Gallery, NYC
“Off The Wall, Off The Flesh”, Art For The People Gallery, Austin TX
“The 13th Hour”, Last Rites Gallery, NYC
“The Art Hive”, Art Realm, Austin TX
2015 “Flesh To Canvas”, Last Rites Gallery, NYC
2014 “The 13th Hour”, Last Rites Gallery, NYC
“Time: Tattoo Art Today”, Somerset House, London UK
2013 “Dissecting Art, Intersecting Anatomy”, S3 Gallery, Chicago IL
“Tattooed Topographies”, Southern Illinois University Museum, Carbondale IL
“Rescue Me”, The Egan Gallery, Fullerton CA
“The 13th Hour”, Last Rites Gallery, NYC
“National Juried Trompe l’oeil Exhibition”, John F. Peto Museum, Island Heights NJ
2012 “Kingdom Animalia”, Land Rover of Anaheim Hills, Anaheim Hills CA
“Second Skin”, Copronason Gallery, Santa Monica CA
“Wildlife In the Post-Natural Age”, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn NYC
2011 “6th Annual Juried Exhibition”, International Guild of Realism, Sage Creek Gallery, Santa Fe NM
“The Membership Show”, Austin Visual Arts Association, Studio 2 Gallery, Austin TX
2009 “AVAA 32nd Anniversary Exhibit & Reunion”, Daugherty Arts Center, Austin TX
2008 “Artists of Permanence”, University of Houston-Clear Lake, Houston TX
“Drawing Blood”, Ghostprint Gallery, Richmond VA.
“Blood Royale”, Yves LaRoche Galerie D’Art, Montreal, Canada
2007 “Blonde Bombshell”, M Modern Gallery, Palm Springs CA
2005 “The Art Fusion Experiment at COSM”, Chapel Of Sacred Mirrors, NYC
“Little Pieces of Autumn”, Anomaly Studios, Pasadena CA
2004 “Galleria De Los Muertos”, CBGB’s Gallery, Lower East Side NYC
“Body Art”, NewSpace Gallery, Manchester CT
2003 “Small Works Show”, Visual Research Gallery, New Haven CT
Catalogues
2010 “Sharp-Focus Realism in Oil”, 128 page Hardcover Book, Proton Press
“Rebuilding”, Calendar, Proton Press
Public Speaking
2010-2015 “Sharp-Focus Realism Techniques For Oil Painters”, Paradise Artist Retreat, Seminar
Bibliography
2015 Rolling Thunder, No. 12, pp. 96, 100-101
2014 Rolling Thunder, No. 11, back inside cover
2013 Creative Quarterly, No. 30 + 31
Art Renewal Center, “9th International 2012-2013 ARC Salon Catalog” pg. 61
2012 Art Renewal Center, “8th International 2011-2012 ARC Salon Catalog” pg. 92
2011 Feliciano, Lily, “The Art of Sketch Theatre: Vol. 1”
2010 Caddel, Jinxi and Devries, Mike, “Cranial Visions” pp. 178-179
Haidet, Ezra and Nelligan, Zach, “Unobserved” pg. 197
Morrison, Durb, “Pint Size Paintings, Vol. 1” pp. 1-2
2009 Haidet, Ezra and Nelligan, Zach, “Coquille Or Be Killed!” pg. 21
2008 Aitchison, Guy, “Scratch Art” pp. 48-49
2007 Mellen, Kathleen, “More Than Skin Deep.” Daily Hampshire Gazette, Vol. 221, No. 236, pg. C1, C8
2005 Helix: A Magazine of the Arts, Spring 2005 edition, pg. 63
Helix: A Magazine of the Arts, Fall 2005 edition, pp. 20-22
2004 Hooten, Josh, “Interview With Nick Baxter.” Herbivore Vegetarian Culture, Issue 5, pp. 44-48
Helix: A Magazine of the Arts, Fall 2004 edition, front cover, pg. 60