Duane Nickerson
Recent Works
The Featured Artist's work can be seen online and in the gallery from October 1 - 26.
Artist talk: at the opening reception, Friday October 3 at 6pm.
Contact the gallery for inquiries.
About the Artist
Duane Nickerson is an award-winning, internationally recognized Canadian artist who lives andworks in rural Nova Scotia. Born in New Brunswick to a family of nine children, he began painting with oils as a child. He earned a Master of Fine Arts from the University of Calgary in1991 and was awarded the Governor Generals Gold Medal Award for Graduate Study. Nickerson has travelled extensively, including a 7 year sojourn in Borneo. His decades-long exhibition record is testament to a rigorous studio practice with archival materials. His paintings reside in public and private collections around the world and his work is represented by Abbozzo Gallery in Toronto and Teichert Art Gallery in Halifax. On the internet, Nickerson’s process is displayed @duanenickerson_art and a fulsome overview of his studio practice is available at duanenickerson.com
Artist Statement
My paintings reference the tradition of landscape painting, a long and varied practice that extends to the dawn of human civilization. The uninhabited and untrammelled landscape is a key facet of Canadian identity, and has a distinctive relevance in this age of global environmental degradation.
I believe that the natural world is a source of meaning and an effective antidote to the anxiety of an age preoccupied with computer driven, screen-based stimulus. Spending time walking among trees in the forest enhances my life. I feel an emotional bond with the sensory matrix that unfolds in the forest. The smell, the complex textures, the sound of the wind in the trees create a fully immersive experience that is soothing and significant. Themes of time and transformation arise when I explore specific visual encounters in the forest using my hand and the fluid material of paint.
Like so many artists before me, I believe that the close study of natural forms through the medium of painting can generate meaning. In my work I hope to draw the viewer’s attention to the complexities of the forest and thereby perhaps heighten sensitivity to the fragility and beauty of our natural world.