Nicolas Holiber
Nicolas Holiber: Born in New York and based in Brooklyn, Nicolas Holiber creates artwork that merges painting and sculpture with figuration and abstraction. His works are characterized by vivid color and viscerally textured surfaces. While his techniques are ever-changing, process is at the core of his practice and over the past 10 years he has developed a unique style that allows his unconscious mind to steer the origins of each work in a completely physical and nearly aggressive manner. Holiber begins his paintings by pushing and pulling a mixture of thick acrylic pastes across the canvas, with every action of his body producing a tangible form. In a purely intuitive process, he never works from studies or other visual aids, but rather relies on his mind’s eye and the material itself for guidance. This “sculpting process” as he calls it, is akin to drawing in three dimensions and allows the artist to merge content and technical narratives within the work. At last, the artist is able to resolve these actions, reaching an affinity with the medium to decipher what he has just created with additional layers of oil paint. At this point, the figurative aspects of each piece reveal themselves and the importance of color comes into play. Holiber’s palette is almost deceiving in its vivid tones, conveying something bright that grows darker the longer it is observed. The viewer is drawn deep into these kaleidoscopic compositions inhabited by distorted figures that border on the grotesque but remain unmistakably human.
Nicolas Holiber has exhibited across the United States and internationally. His most recent solo exhibition, Shape-Shifter at Unit London opened on 26 April 2022. His work is in prominent private and public collections around the world.
