Nick Wall was born in Paihiatua in
1973 and graduated from Whitecliffe College of Art and Design in
2000 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in Painting.
Mentored by Max Gimblett in New York
and Auckland, Wall's work takes its cue from mid-20th
Century US Abstract Expressionism, though his use of stylised and
often geometric compositional motifs combined with a
self-reflective emphasis on painterly qualities and application
lends his work an air of introspection and spirituality, as opposed
to the extroverted and often ego-centric works of some of the
original movement's US exponents.
Like Gimblett, Wall favours the
intensity of spontaneous and often dramatic mark making and the
application of paint in such a way as to exacerbate its physical
properties and the very act of its application. However, Wall's
interest in the dramatic act of painting is tempered by his
attention to the idea of balance (both spiritual and compositional)
drawn from attributes of Zen and other Asiatic spiritual movements,
faiths and philosophies.
While consciously minimal in outlook,
Wall's works often employ
stylistic motifs drawn from these philosophies and designed to
reiterate the sense of equilibrium that they evoke. Wall's use of
'sacred geometry' (square, circle and triangle motifs) gives his
work the compositional basis to engage in the dramatic or the
subtle act of expressionism while simultaneously lending credence
to the belief that a higher plane of consciousness can be achieved
through aesthetic contemplation.
As Wall explains, "I am trying to produce works that people can
immerse themselves in. I have always felt my paintings have a
diagrammatic quality, which helps illustrate my spiritual
understandings and allows a journey to be taken by removing
discursive elements, leaving calmer, more contemplative imagistic
qualities achieved through diaphanous glazing"
Wall has participated in numerous national and international
group exhibitions and has shown consistently in Auckland since his
graduation in 2000. He has been nominated as a finalist in the
Wallace Trust Art Awards over four consecutive seasons (2000-2004)
and was the 1999 winner of the prestigious Nokia New Zealand Art
Award.