Nigel Sense

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works

Home Brand

Mixed Media on canvas
170 x 170 cm
aus $1800

Singha

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900

Princess

Mixed Media on canvas
161 x 151 cm
aus $1300 SOLD

Budweiser

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900

Passiona

Mixed Media on canvas
66 x 142 cm
aus $900

Enjoy Coca Cola

Mixed Media on canvas
160 x 160 cm
aus 1600

Hahn Super Dry

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900

Enough?

Mixed Media on canvas
132 x 123 cm
aus $1200 SOLD

Carisberg

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900

Red bull

Mixed Media on canvas
66 x 142 cm
aus $900

1000 Rupee 3 times

Mixed Media on canvas
150 x 210 cm
aus $2000

Guinness

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900

Croyola 1

Mixed Media on canvas
triptych 150 x 150 cm
aus $2000

Tiger

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900

Fanta

Mixed Media on canvas
66 x 142 cm
aus $900

Proper

Mixed Media on canvas
190 x 190 cm
aus $1800

Tooheys Blue

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900 SOLD

No Cash Blue

Mixed Media on canvas
195 x 185cm
aus $1600

Vodka Cruiser

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900

Budweiser

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900

i Google Myself

Mixed Media on canvas
200 x 200 cm
aus $ 1600

Chang

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900

Duck

Mixed Media on canvas
16 x 80 cm
aus $1500 SOLD

Stellar Artois

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900

Budweiser

Mixed Media on canvas
85 x 100 cm
aus $900

news

what's happenning

Nigel Sense is exhibiting as part of the
Colombo Art Biennale, Sri Lanka
15 - 19 February 2012
Visit colomboartbiennale.com for more info

artist

Artist Statement

When I was a student at art school I was told by a lecturer to enjoy what I was doing, to enjoy the process of painting. He taught me to use the brush more freely and less rigid, and to paint what I know. So I painted my life. As soon as I started doing that it just came easily and everything dropped into place. Painting what I know, pop references, music lyrics, all seem to fit the style I paint in now. I like beautiful logos and clean lines being destroyed or being made imperfect.

My work is a reaction to how I grew up. It’s a reaction to a working class suburb and lifestyle. I approach painting like a storyteller. My works sum up the experiences of suburban living. I don’t go out of my way to reference a dead artist or writer that I know nothing about.

I generally like to paint big. I want my paintings to surround and engulf the viewer so they cannot stare away from it, even if it results in annoyance. I have no problems with people hating my work, as I want their reaction and engagement. Once you have a reaction it opens the work up to discussion. This is what I aim to achieve.

All my paintings are questions. They are small questions, everyday questions, no matter how insignificant they may be. I don’t try and address the big issues. The best thing about giving a question is that it encourages the viewer to come up with his or her own answers.

I build up my canvas with underpainting that is usually pure abstract. More recently, I have begun to then put down stencils. I approach it like a linocut where there are multiple layers to build up each colour. The last process is to destroy these layers. The hardest part is finding the balance of what to destroy and what to leave behind.

I have recently begun experimenting with more figurative imagery. I have the confidence to be more child-like in my approach. It is not because I previously thought I didn’t have the ability, it was because I was nervous of the judgement of others and their reactions. It is only now that I have gained the confidence and belief that my process is valid. I am obsessed with the fact that when you are young, you have the freedom to do what you want, to draw outside the lines and not be under pressure to make everything look perfect. When you’re a child painting, the process is more about the tactile experience of creating and playing with a medium across a surface, than the actual finished product. I feel the older you get you loose that; you get conditioned to make things more perfect.

For the last 10 years I have travelled the world trying to find some sort of freedom or place where I fit. What I have found in the last year or two is that my freedom or place is in my painting. When I’m in the studio I feel connected to everything. Whether something greater than me or something worse I feel accepted and validated. These days I have saying, painters paint. It’s as simple as that. It is who I am, it is what I do and it is how I define myself, for the good and bad.

+ Me in the Marrickville studio

Nigel Sense

Born in Wollongong, Australia, 1976.

+ Education

2005-2006: Bachelor or Creative Arts
(Visual Arts and Graphic Design)(incomplete)
University of Wollongong, Australia.
2 years Deans Honours List.

2000-2002: Diploma Graphic Design and Printing,
Ultimo TAFE, Sydney, Australia.

1992-1994: Associate Diploma Fine Arts,
West Wollongong Technical College, Wollongong, Australia.

+ Recent Solo Exhibitions

August 2009 “Blank Space” Solo Exhibition
2 Creativehouse gallery, Galle, Sri Lanka

January 2010: “Nigel Sense” Solo Exhibition
Paradise Road Gallery Cafe, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

January 2010: “Nigel Sense” Solo Exhibition
Sri Serendipity Arts Cafe, Galle Fort, Sri Lanka.

+ Recent Group Exhibitions

January 2009 “ways of seeing” Exhibition
Ways of Seeing, part of the Galle Literary Festival, Galle , Sri Lanka

September 2009: “One Minute 20”
as part of the Colombo Art Biennale, Colombo, Sri Lanka.

November 2009: “Galle Art Festival”
Fort Printers Hotel, Galle Fort, Sri Lanka.

May 2010: “Monstrosity”
Monstrosity Art Gallery, Woolloomooloo NSW, Australia.

December 2010: “Creature Feature”
Monstrosity Art Gallery, Woolloomooloo NSW, Australia.

May 2011: "Medium Vinyl"
Hardware Gallery, Enmore NSW, Australia.

Septemebr 2011: "Uncanny Valley"
as part os the Sydney Fringe Festivel, Hardware Gallery, Emore
NSW, Australia.

Septemebr 2011: "Connect"
as part os the Sydney Fringe Festivel, Seymour Centre, Sydney
University NSW, Australia.

November 2011" Australian Stencil Art Prize"
as part of the Outpost exhibiton, Cockatoo Island, Sydney NSW
Australia.

February 2012: "Colombo Art Biennale"
Colombo, Sri Lanka.

+ Recent Private Collections

Shanth Fernando (owner of Paradise Road)
The Villa Bentota, Sri Lanka
Andrew Buncombe (The Independent's Asia Correspondent)
Juliet Coombe (BBC Lonely Planet photographer)
B’s Place, Unawatuna, Sri Lanka
Anup Vega (Sri Lankan artist)
Jackson Clark Insurance Brokers PTE LTD, Singapore

+ Commissions

december 2008: B’S PLACE bar and restaurant
Unawatuna, Sri Lanka.

January 2009 “ways of seeing” Exhibition Ways of Seeing,
part of the Galle Literary Festival, Galle , Sri Lanka

january 2010: Sri Serendipity Arts Cafe
Galle Fort, Sri Lanka.

+ Selected Bibliography

Rathindra Kuruwita, “Abstract Reactions,” the Nation 02 August 2009
http://www.nation.lk/2009/08/02/eye5.pdf

Juliet Coombe, “Art Peace for Sale, ” the Nation” 13 September 2009
http://www.nation.lk/2009/09/13/eye4-5.pdf

Thushara Kulatunga, “Doing What He Likes, The Way He Likes at 33,” the Sunday Times 03 January 2010
http://sundaytimes.lk/100103/Plus/plus_21.html

Imaad Majeed, “Nigel Makes Sense,” the Daily Mirror 09 January 2010
http://print.dailymirror.lk/life/132-life/765-nigel-makes-sense.html

Gary Bowerman, “Artistic Licence”, Mix August / September 2010
Mix Magazine

Mark Wild, Chucking The Dragon (Sri Serendipity Publishing House) 2010, front cover and 138
www.amazon.co.uk

Juliet Coombe and Daisy Perry, Sri Lanka’s Other Half (Sri Serendipity Publishing House) 2010, 13-1
www.amazon.co.uk

Marlon Ariyasinghe, Froteztology (Sri Serendipity Publishing House) 2011

Bernadette Burke, “Creature Feature”, Art Hub 23 December 2011
http://www.artshub.com.au/au/news-article/reviews/visual-arts/creature-feature-183087?sc=1

Lauren Carroll Harris,"Something Else" Eastside radio 2011
http://eastsidefm.org/2011/09/painting-is-dead-long-live-painting/

+ LINK TO INTERVIEW ON EASTSIDE RADIO

+ DOWNLOAD PDF OF MY CV

+ Australian Stencil Prize as part of the
Outpost exhibition at Cockatoo Island.

contact

Contact

13 Addison Road, Marrickville
NSW 2204 Australia
+612 8033 8029
+614 16 133 474

2creativehouse@gmail.com

+ The Marrickville studio