As part of a series of Brown Bag Lunch Talks presented by Molly Barnes at the Roger Smith Hotel in Manhattan, Long Island painter and designer of public projects, Roy Nicholson, interviews with Molly Barnes on Friday, September 28th, 2018, at 12 noon. The Roger Smith Hotel is located at 501 Lexington Avenue, at 47th Street, New York, NY 10017. Information and reservations, call Molly Barnes, 212.888.3588 or 212.755.1400.
Toxic Garden 9 (Lathyrus), 2014. Acrylic and oil on linen, 48 x 48 inches.
A solo exhibition of works by Roy Nicholson is on display from June 16 to July 11, 2018, at the Dan Welden Studio/Gallery in Sag Harbor, NY. The Sweet Pea Suite and Works from the Toxic Garden Series includes paintings and solarplate etchings dating from 2006 to 2017. A Gallery Talk is scheduled for Wednesday, July 11th at 5:30 pm. The gallery is open by appointment only.
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Recent Prints
Toxic Garden Paintings
Toxic Garden 5 (Ipomoea), 2011. Oil on linen, 48 x 48 inches.
From March 30th through May 20th, 2018, the Southampton Arts Center presents East End Collected4, curated by artist, Paton Miller. In its fourth edition, the exhibition continues to reflect Miller’s vision of this area as an ideal environment for artists to create work. It celebrates 30 new artists, honors the collectors who have supported them, and marks Southampton Arts Center as a home where the East End arts scene can continue to thrive.
Artists include Mary Abbott, Mike Ahearn, Hal Buckner, Perry Burns, Eteri Chkadua, Bonnie Cohen, Andrea Cote, Pierre Cote, Gregory de la Haba, James DeMartis, Ellen Frank, Elizabeth Geisler, Kimberly Goff, Elaine Grove, Michael Ferran, Sophie Howell, Dana Little, Steve Loschen, Kenny Mann, Mary Mattingly, Lindsay Morris, Roy Nicholson, Shimon Okshteyn, Mickey Paraskevas, Julia Scheuer, Kerry Sharkey-Miller, Liz Sloan, Neal Thomason, Abigail Vogel, and Dan Welden.
Roy Nicholson is represented with two large paintings from the Toxic Garden series: Toxic Garden (Lathyrus) and Toxic Garden (Ipomoea), both oil on linen and dated 2012 and 2011 respectively.
On August 5th The Heckscher Museum of Art in Huntington, NY opened Ebb & Flow: Seascape and Shoreline Views, an exhibition of works from the Permanent Collection that reveals varied aspects of the coastal environment and the enduring allure of the sea. Included alongside works by Arthur Dove, Thomas Moran, Stan Brodsky, Betty Parsons, Jules Olitski, and Maurice Prendergast, among others, is Goldfish (49) II, 1983-84, a monotype and pastel on paper in the museum collection since 1992. The exhibition is on view through 12 November 2017.
A selection of twelve Solarplate etchings from the Toxic Garden (Sweet Pea) series will be on view in the exhibition Printmaking Collaborations: International Masters at The Cape Cod Museum in Dennis, MA, from July 13 to September 17, 2017. This is an exhibition of lithographs and mixed-media prints created collaboratively with Dan Welden as Master Printer.
Laura G. Einstein writes in Journal of the Print World, “…this exhibition tributes a remarkable group of artists who have collaborated with Dan [Welden] at his Sag Harbor printmaking studio Hampton Editions Ltd., founded in 1972, that includes: Lynda Benglis, Willem and Elaine de Kooning, Jimmy Ernst, Dan Flavin, Kurt Vonnegut, Ibram Lassaw, Eric Fischl and Roy Nicholson, among others…. Roy Nicholson’s Toxic Garden, an edition of 19 solarplate monoprints–12 of which are on display in a grid-like suite, create an exquisite tableau that belies the toxic nature of the sweet pea plant in a variety of tones and shades. The masterful experiment in color juxtapositions causes the sweet pea to advance and retreat in a soft pattern akin to the 19th century designs of William Morris suggesting the rose and vine trellises in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. Nicholson’s Toxic Garden assumes pride of place in an anteroom of this gallery.”
Related Links
Singular and Serial
New Solarplate Announced
Roy Nicholson’s painting “Pond ( 31) Nkisi” is currently on view at The Long Island Museum in Stony Brook NY, until October 20 2014. It is prominently displayed on the entrance panel to the exhibition which consists of 75 treasures from the collection to celebrate the 75th anniversary of the museum.
Throughout my career I have developed paintings in series. One painting will often suggest alternatives that can be followed and exploited. Ideas can spread like branches of a tree. Although I am most interested in the process of painting, I often use a computer to revisit earlier states of a painting and to try out color or form changes.
-Roy Nicholson
In 2012, as part of an ongoing series of talks organized and presented by Marika Herskovic, Roy Nicholson gave a lecture in which he describes how he navigates between abstraction and representation in his work ranging from large-scale paintings and painting installations, such as the Federal Reserve Bank’s 52 Weeks installation, to public commissions like those at Union Station in Los Angeles or Hicksville Station on Long Island, New York.
Click here to watch the lecture on YouTube
“52 Weeks II” at the Four Seasons Restaurant
52 Weeks II, a series of paintings created over the course of a year by Roy Nicholson, has now finished its run at The Four Seasons restaurant, in the landmark Seagram Building at 99 East 52nd Street in Manhattan. The exhibition was extended for an additional three months beyond its one-year scheduled showing. It was installed in the Terrace Room, on the same wall once occupied by Jackson Pollock’s 1952 masterpiece, Blue Poles.
The series comprises 52 paintings, each done during one week, from the summer solstice of 2008 to the summer solstice of 2009. Much of the imagery is based on elements of the artist’s garden at his home and studio in Sag Harbor, New York. All four seasons are represented, although not in strict chronological order.
As Ariella Budick, art critic for The Financial Times, has observed, the serial approach “allows Nicholson to embed himself in various levels of abstraction and representation, degrees of spatial illusion, and color harmonies, all within a single work.”
Organized by John Woodward, director of the Woodward Gallery and a former Four Seasons chef, the installation of 52 Weeks II was a feature of the venerable restaurant’s signature art program. During its 62-year history, it has hosted works by many contemporary artists, including Joan Miró, Frank Stella, James Rosenquist and Robert Indiana. Distinctive permanent pieces include a large Picasso stage curtain designed for the Ballet Russes, and a Richard Lippold hanging sculpture over the front bar.
Click here for more information and pictures or contact Woodward Gallery at 133 Eldridge Street, New York, NY 10002. 212 966-3411
RE – NATURED: ROY NICHOLSON AND CUI FEI can be viewed at The University Art Gallery, Staller Center for the Arts, Stony Brook University, from November 12 – December 17 2011.
Opening reception November 19 from 7-9 PM. Gallery hours are: 12 noon – 4 PM, Tuesday to Friday, 7 – 9 PM Saturday (closed Sunday, Monday and holidays).
Roy will be showing his 52 Weeks II series and other works including the Toxic Garden series. Fei will be creating installations in the gallery using natural forms to make a kind of calligraphy.
“Oak Ark” a sculpture/planter in the form of an ark using natural materials such as mountain laurel, cherry twigs, beeswax and oak seedlings is Roy Nicholson’s contribution to “Planters: ON & OFF The Ground IV”. It can be seen at Long House Reserve 133 hands Creek Road, East Hampton, NY. until October the 8th. 2011.