Nicky Foreman b. 1970

One of my favourite pieces of art is Bernini’s sculpture ‘Daphne and Apollo’ in the Galleria Borghese in Rome. The myth of Daphne and Apollo tells the story of a...

Nicky Foreman was born in Waitara, Taranaki in 1970. She attended Elam School of Fine Arts Auckland University 1988 – 1991 and graduated BFA 1992. First exhibiting in Auckland and New Plymouth in 1992, Foreman has exhibited regularly in Auckland, New Plymouth and Christchurch ever since. From the onset, she has worked in a compartmentalized format. Foreman’s work can be viewed twofold – in small icon-like pieces and as the whole. Her work is concerned with taking everyday objects and resetting them, so they might be viewed in a difference context – as precious and beautiful. Within this method of working Foreman plays off order against chaos, and abstract against figurative. Foreman uses oil paint with an assemblage of other materials. She manipulates her materials and invents for herself new techniques that evolve through her everyday practice, giving a sense of alchemy to her artwork. Using gold, silver and copper leaf, wax, inks and shellacs, she engenders tactile historical surfaces.

'From a personal point of view, I have always found it easier to center myself in an ornate space and although there is a current push towards the pared back,...