Nicki Manthel
Nicki Manthel
Nicki is a trans-Tasman artist with a studio in Australia and Paraparaumu on the Kapiti Coast. She combines her busy painting practice with teaching contemporary painting at the Malvern Artists’ Society in Melbourne and frequent trips home to New Zealand.
Moving to Melbourne has created a shift in her work. Exploring the Victorian gardens of her new city her work now focuses mainly on the natural environment. They involve a love
Her works are an application of different painting methods such as acrylic stains, drawing with oil sticks and oil painting. Through this process Nicki achieves a strong, expressive response to her subject matter.
Stretched and sealed raw linens and canvas provide a textured, plant based surface to paint on. These also reflect her connection to the used natural subjects. Silver leaf on linen is another technique Nicki enjoys as it exposes the texture of the linen. A process that references beauty in decay of nature.
Nicki has exhibited regularly since completing her Fine Art Degree at Elam in 2004. She completed a commission for Hilton Hotel aparments in Queenstown, painting 43 abstract landscapes of the Southern Alps.
In 2014 Nicki had a sell out exhibition in Melbourne entitled ‘Biophilia,’ a term describing the innate affinity we have with the natural world. She encourages the viewer to experience this in exaggerating the scale of her subjects, allowing us to come ‘up close and personal.’
Artwork by Nicki Manthel is available from Mobile Art Gallery, 23 Edwin Street, Mt Eden, Auckland 09 630 6543