Mike Nicholls is a Melbourne sculptor and painter whose practice spans more than four decades, tracing its beginnings from a farm in Narre Warren North and the raw, expressionist energy of the art collective ROAR Studios in the 1980’s.
From those foundational years, Nicholls has forged a singular path defined by reduction, carving from single timbers, paring back to the essential form. A spare vocabulary of figure, sheild, hand, seed and bird recurs across sculpture and painting, imbued with expression, soul and the human spirit.
An enduring Australian aesthetic runs through the work, informed by a life of looking closely at this country. From remote cattle stations in central Queensland, to plein air journeys across Australia, Spain, South Georgia Island in the Antarctic, and repeat visits to Cape York Peninsula, where he has led woodcarving workshops in the Indigenous communities of Lockhart River, Aurukun and Moa Island in the Torres Strait.
Gnarled yet elegant, at once figurative and abstract, Nicholls’ works are made to be contemplated, grain and tool-mark rewarding the hand as much as the eye. They sit within the landscape, weathering and belonging rather than imposing upon it.
Nicholls has held over forty solo exhibitions, including four curated retrospectives in public galleries, and participated in over ninety group exhibitions. His work is held in significant collections including the National Gallery of Australia, the National Gallery of Victoria, Heide Museum of Modern Art and McClelland Sculpture Park and Gallery, and he is the winner of the Montalto Sculpture Prize (2018) and the Moonee Valley Art Prize (2006).