I am a London based artist working across painting and performance, graduating from CSM Fine Art in 2006 and the Royal College of Art in 2011. I produce bodies of work containing interlinked images, objects and performances. I aim to establish aesthetic worlds, each with specific atmospheres, formal approaches, motifs, and (occasionally) narratives.
Whilst materially diverse my works share themes and approaches: Myth-making and 'staging'; The body and how it can communicate through mark, gesture and rhythm; The place where the 'real' dilates into something fragmented, abstract or hypnotic.
My work has inter-disciplinary tendencies; utilising painting, printmaking, photography, movement and music. Whilst echoing my personal inclinations I draw from historical models that explore connections between different senses or diverse art forms. Radical, experimental and classical models of art education interest me, especially those that aim to invent novel, sensual methodologies that develop perception and proprioception. I favour embodied approaches to making and learning that are based around repetition, kinesthesia, training, play and make believe.
Portfolio available upon request:
@fay_nicolson
faynicolsonartist[at]gmail.com
2019
SPA SONGS, Broadway Gallery, letchworth, UK
TONE POEMS, Zabludowicz Collection, London, UK
2018
Sound before Symbol, DKUK, London, UK
SPA SONGS, Brunel Museum, London, UK
2017
A COMMUNITY OF SENSATION, Jupiter Woods, London, UK
P S Y C H O P L A S T I C, Estorick Collection, London, UK
OVER AND OVER PURE FORM, Royal Institute of Art, Stockhlolm, SE
2016
I Love Your Euclidean Stance, Galileo Flow, Towards, Toronto, CA
OVER AND OVER PURE FORM, Kunstraum, London, UK
UN MAKE ME, Galerie Rolando Anselmi, Berlin, DE
2015
OVER AND OVER PURE FORM, Grand Union, Birmingham, UK
PLAY SENSE, Gerald Moore Gallery, London, UK
2013
A P E L, Almanac Projects, London, UK
P A R E, West Lane South, London, UK
WORK WITH MATERIAL, Künstlerhaus Wien, AU
2020
STRUCTURES, COSAR HMT, Düsseldorf, DE
OVER AND OVER PURE FORM, Kunstraum Live, London/Online, UK
Twang Achoo Clang ooff!, RTM/TACO!, London/Online, UK
2019
Art Night 2019, Walthamstow, UK
The Immeasurable, Thameside Gallery, London, UK
Art Education: Interesting Histories and Alternative Futures, Loughborough University, UK
2018
Open Sound, Outpost Gallery, Norwich
Soft Roc, KELDER Projects, London
APARREL, Division of Labour, Manchester
2017
KUNSTRAUM 5 YEARS EVENT, Kunstraum, London, UK
Education, Education, Education, Learn, Learn, Learn, Division of Labour, UK
Alpha, Isis, Eden, event, Showroom, London, UK
2016
Say What?, ASC Gallery, London, UK
UEP, Addaya Centre d'Art Contemporani, Mallorca, ES
Basic Structures of, Austrian Cultural Forum, London, UK
FACE TO FACE: A Selection of International Emerging Artists from the Ernesto Esposito Collection, Palazzo Fruscione, Salerno, IT
2015
The Place of the Scene, Bloc Projects, Sheffield, UK
Madrugada: Louisa Gagliardi, Fay Nicolson, Tomorrow Gallery, NY, USA
Jacopo Miliani, Fay Nicolson, Jackson Sprague, Frutta, Rome, IT
Elapse / End, MAISTERRAVALBUENA, Madrid, ES
Exquisite Collapse, blip blip blip, Leeds, UK
The Decorator and the Thief (…), NGCA & Priestman Gallery, Sunderland, UK
Mostyn Open 19, Mostyn Gallery, Llandudno, UK
2014
ACCORDION, Laura Bartlett Gallery, London, UK
before breakfast we talked about the furthest visible point before it all disappeared, Tenderpixel, London, UK
foam, AND/OR, London; Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge, One Thoresby Street, Nottingham, UK
Textile Languages, Thalie Art Project, Brussels, BE
Open File: A Rehearsal, Outpost, Norwich, UK
2013
Quantum Leap, event for 24 SPACES: A CACOPHONY at Malmö Konsthall, Malmö, SE and Embassy Gallery, Edinburgh, UK
Mind Rhymes, Hidde van Seggelen Gallery, London, UK
Open Cube, Mason's Yard White Cube, London, UK
Lecture Performance, Overgaden Institute of Contemporary Art, Copenhagen, DK
An-artist, Unlearning, David Roberts Art Foundation, London, UK
Take Me Out, Limoncello, Art Projects, The London Art Fair, London, UK
2012
Sleeping Upright, One Thoresby Street, Nottingham, UK
Things That Have Interested Me, Waterside Contemporary, London, UK
Prospectus, Chelsea College of Art, London, UK
Verlan, Twelve Around One, London, UK
2011
The Anti Library, SPACE, London, UK (collaboration with Oliver Smith)
Constitution of the Damned, Landings, Vestfossen, NO (collaboration with Oliver Smith)
KnowHow!, Campbell Works, London, UK
2010
Manifesta 8, Various venues, Murcia, ES
Rapid Form, Sackler Center, V & A Museum, London, UK
ACE Bursary for Covid-Support, 2020
a-n Artist Bursary for professional development 2018
10th Niche Commission, The National Trust, UK, 2016
Go and See Bursary, a-n bursary to visit and review the opening of the Venice Biennale 2015
Artist in Residence at Montiverdi Gallery, curated by Sarah McCrory Sienna, July 2015
Artist in Residence at Eltham College, London, UK, 2013-15
Triangle International Artist Workshop, with Gasworks and the British Council, Muscat, Oman, 2013
Norwich University of the Arts, UK, BA Fine Art, Lecturer, 2014-20
Bow Arts, UK, Associate Artist Educator, 2020
Central Saint Martins - UAL, UK, BA Fine Art, Lecturer, 2020
Kunstraum & Soapbox, UK, Mentor, 2019
University of the Arts London - Summer School (Chelsea, CSM, Camberwell), UK, Lecturer, 2008-2019
Chelsea College of Art and Design, BA Fine Art, Visiting Lecturer, 2018
Stockholm Royal Academie of Art, BA Fine Art, Visiting lecturer, 2017
University of Brighton, UK, BA Fine Art Critical Practice, Lecturer, 2014-17
University of Applied Arts Vienna, AU, MA Fine Printmaking, Visiting Lecturer, 2013
Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam, NL, BA across courses for Studium Generale, Visiting Lecturer, 2012
Dutch Art Institute, Arnhem, NL, MA Fine Art, Visiting Lecturer, 2010-12
Nottingham Trent University, UK, BA Fine Art, Visiting Lecturer, 2011
The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art, Oxford, UK, BA Fine Art, Visiting Lecturer, 2010
Lakeside Arts Centre, University of Nottingham, UK, Associate Artist, Education Team, 2009-2013
Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK, Workshop Artist, London, 2008-2011
Camden Arts Centre, London UK, Associate Artist, collaborative project, London, 2009
Gasworks Gallery, Workshop Artist, Schools and Families, London, 2009
PGCE in Secondary Art and Design Education, IOE, UK, 2008
Interview with Elizabeth Corkery, print Club, 2019
Cura Blog, feature of solo exhibition, May 2016
Mousse Blog, feature of solo exhibition, May 2016
Mousse Blog, Feature of group exhibition, December 2015
Artnews, The Year in Galleries in New York, feature of group exhibition, December 2015
Cura, feature of group exhibition, September 2015
Dazed Digital, The most Exciting Shows to See this Summer, feature of group exhibition, July 2015
Art Forum, review of group show at Frutta, July 2015
Kaleidoscope Blog, MEET Fay Nicolson by George Vasey, May 2014