Originally from Tillicoultry, Nicola is an Edinburgh based artist who graduated from Gray’s School of Art, Aberdeen in 2001. Since graduating Nicola has exhibited throughout Scotland in group shows. Her work has explored a variety of themes including auditory experiences and human dynamics. All the artwork has the same consistent goal; materialising the transient. This is Nicola’s first solo exhibition.
“This exhibition is an exploration of human interaction and the memories of these encounters we are left with. In a society which is increasingly engaging with other people without being physically present, I felt compelled to create a series of artworks that explore the dynamics between people in groups and on a one to one basis. Creating the work was a very physical experience and I felt my brain was engaging in a different way for each art work.
Before working on a painting I would begin with a rough sketch, the painting became a dialogue between all the components, with some pieces constantly changing until all the shapes and colours seemed placated and in harmony with each other. I usually work with a wide variety of materials, but for these pieces I have exclusively used oil paints so there is a unity between all the artworks.
Personal space is explored in “Coming out of their Shells”; I enjoyed creating the sense that something is being communicated amongst all the shapes. Each painting has its own communication system in place, just in the same way that every family, lovers and groups of friends, have their own intimate rules of behaviour which are unique to them.
It was important to have vibrant colours that reverberate with each other to represent the positive feelings after engaging with loved ones or from the reminiscing rush of random memories that come to the fore, igniting the senses. The memory conjured from a song or smell can give a fleeting feeling of being in another time or with others. In this show the memory of such interactions is the main inspiration for my work.”
Nicola McInally