Molonglo River, Mid-Afternoon
By Nick Offer $5,800DESCRIPTION
As a painter I am interested in how nature looks, not how it works. Which means I often feel an instinctive interest, say, for certain configurations of trees or odd conjunction of sky and hill without wondering about the whys and hows of their existence. The approach is probably best described as an emotional response to visual stimuli, bypassing as I say, the nature part. Heart over head as it were. The head does play a role though: I find it stimulating to consider the way that landscape relates to humans, or they to it. I am thinking of the traces left by habitation, movement, conflict and so on. The fact that we - and all animals - spend our lives on the land and then end up in it is often at the back of my mind when painting.
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About the Artist
A Brief History
I live in Canberra and have a studio at M16 Artspace in the city. My work focuses on landscape, portraiture and figurative painting, often combining mixed media with traditional painting.
Recent exhibitions and award shows in Australia have included ‘The Doyles Landscape Prize 2024’ Show (First Prize), 'The National Capital Art Prize' Show (2023 and 2024, Highly Commended in both years), 'The Lethbridge Landscape Prize' Show (2024, Highly Commended), and 'The Percival Portrait Prize' Show (2024).
A solo show featuring 7 large paintings of the remains of the NASA tracking station entitled ‘Foundation Traces’ was held at the M16 Artspace Gallery in Spring 2024.
Further afield my work has been exhibited in London in ‘Figurative Art Now’ (Mall Galleries) 2019, Lynn Painter Stainers Prize (Mall Galleries) 2018, The London Contemporary Art Prize (Store Street Gallery) 2017, 2018, Christies and The Battersea Art Fair.
I am drawn to painting landscapes mainly as a way of exploring a sense of the animal histories (mainly human) that have shaped and scarred them, using a range of approaches and tools (rollers, spray paint, ink, silicon, stencils, scrapers etc.) to achieve this. My work is both ‘plein air’ and studio based, the latter using both sketches made on site and photos as source material.
Awards
The Doyles Landscape Award 'First Prize'
The National Contemporary Art Prize ‘Highly Commended’
The Lethbridge Landscape Award 'Highly Commended'
2023
The National Capital Art Prize 'Highly Commended'
Exhibitions
'Foundation Traces’, M16 Art Space, Canberra (solo)
‘The Shirley Hannon Portrait Award Show’, SECCA, Bega
‘The John Leslie Landscape Prize Show', Gippsland
'The National Contemporary Art Prize Show, Canberra
'The Lethbridge Landscape Award Show', Brisbane
'The Percival Portrait Award Show', Townsville
'The Doyles Landscape Award Show', Gold Coast
'The Lethbridge 20000 Small Scale Art Award Show', Brisbane
‘The National Capital Art Prize’, Aarwun Gallery, Canberra
‘The Lethbridge Small Scale Art Award’, Lethbridge Gallery, Brisbane
‘The Night Side of Nature’, M16 Art Space, Canberra (solo).
‘The Waverly Art Prize Finalists Show’, Bondi Pavilion, Sydney.
‘The Mandorla Award Show’, Perth.
‘Now’ M16 Art Space, Canberra (curator and exhibitor)
‘B&W’, M16 Art Space, Canberra.
‘The Waverly Art Prize Finalists Show’, Woollahra.
‘Members Exhibition’, Megalo Print Studio Gallery, Canberra.
‘Figurative Art Now’, Mall Galleries, London, UK.
‘Nick Offer, New Paintings’, The Bomb Factory, Archway, London, UK (solo).
‘Lynn Painter Stainers Prize Exhibition’, Mall Galleries, London, UK.
‘London Contemporary Art Prize Exhibition’, Store Street Gallery, London, UK.
‘The Affordable Art Fair’, Battersea, London, UK
‘London Contemporary Art Prize Exhibition’, Store Street Gallery, London, UK.
‘New Displays’, Contemporary Fine Art Gallery, Eton, UK.
‘Members’ Show’, The Bomb Factory, London, UK.
‘Nick Offer, New Paintings’, Krilova Stelfox Gallery, London, UK (solo).
‘The Lacey Art Prize Show’, Lacey Contemporary, London, UK.
Education
Master of Arts (M.A.), European Fine Art, Winchester College of Art, UK
Bachelor of Arts (B.A.), Fine Art, Edinburgh University, UK
Lives and works in Canberra.
Studio in M16 Art Space, Canberra.
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