Nicolas Coleman

Nicolas Coleman (b. 1998, Durham, North Carolina) graduated from Duke University in 2020 where he studied Visual Arts and Political Science before moving to New York. Since graduating, his work has been exhibited in solo exhibitions at Steven Turner, LA (2023); Thierry Goldberg, NY (2023); PM/AM, London (2023), and in various group exhibitions and fair, most notably Untitled Miami (2023) and 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair, New York (2022). In 2024, Coleman will be doing a residency at Black Rock Senegal in Dakar in the Spring (2024).

Nicolas places a likeness of himself in luxuriously painted settings - richly decorated interiors and atmospheric external spaces. His work is joyful, bright and energetic, and appears to be rooted in a calm idealism. He celebrates beauty and detail in every object and texture on the canvas; to abandon what we could call a hierarchy in the level of attention each receives.

In contrast with the upbeat nature of his immediate aesthetic, however, Nicolas examines the roles of our complex psychologies and our responses to our surroundings, and how conflicts can arise between them. These concepts are revealed only when the themes and atmosphere of the work are probed beyond the surface, opening a more rounded discussion on the nuances of beauty in our lives, how atmosphere can so easily be tainted by complications that rest in the background of our minds.