Nicole Collins
HEAVY: Black Paintings
Gallery Two
Exhibition Info
Nicole Collins’ practice focuses on the effects of time, accumulation, heat and gravity on visceral materials, primarily through painting. She exploits the dynamic metaphorical possibilities of paint to communicate the fragility and resilience of life on a physical, intellectual and spiritual level. HEAVY: Black Paintings gathers together five large thematically linked monochromatic paintings for the first time. Made using wax and pigment, these materially dense paintings have been constructed through the act of carving, scraping, peeling, melting and reconstructing the wax, often over layers of jute. They are a manifestation of the artist’s almost devotional process of accumulation and excavation over time. The end results are equally imposing, contemplative and mournful.
Photography: Robert McNair
Artist Biography
Nicole Collins completed her MVS at the University of Toronto and BA at the University of Guelph. Since 1994 she has shown in numerous solo exhibitions including the Art Gallery of Ontario and The Embassy of Canada in Tokyo; as well as numerous group exhibitions in Toronto, New York, London and Zurich. She recently curated the exhibition Breaking Black for the McMaster Museum of Art in Hamilton, which featured her own work along side selected works from the permanent collection including Louis Comtois, Anselm Kiefer, Sigmar Polke and others. Her work has been featured in magazines, newspapers and books including Time Out London, Canadian Art, Roald Nasgaard’s Abstract Painting in Canada, Carte Blanche, Volume 2: Painting, and The Donovan Collection Catalogue. Collins is an award-winning educator at OCADU and lives in Toronto. Nicole Collins is represented by General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto.