STATEMENT

I am an installation-based painter using realism as a way to explore the sculptural qualities in painting. I am interested in the long tradition of illusionistic painting, not only in regards to subject matter, but in how an image itself exists in its own pictorial world while simultaneously taking up and relating to the viewer’s physical space.

My subjects — which range from the banal to the culturally significant: still-life, place, symbol, myth — are always life-sized and representational with neutral white backgrounds. The paintings are unframed and displayed to spatially mimic the subject’s actual existence (up high, flat on the ground, partially or completely hidden, protruding out from a wall…) One piece often consists of multiple canvases interacting with one another to create an interactive environment. My work disrupts traditional ways of viewing and encourages people to look at painting not just with their eyes but with their whole body.


BIO

Lara Nickel is an American-French painter and published author whose artwork and writings center on Painting’s slow historical slide down the wall.

She is most well known for her large-scale painting project 12 Horses — Homage to Jannis Kounellis which was first exhibited at museum Fondazione 107 in Turin, Italy in 2019. In 2022, Skira editore published a book on her work which can be found in the collections of the Getty Museum Library and the Metropolitan Museum Library, among others. Nickel has been officially invited by curator Rosa Martínez to present her artwork in the upcoming Malta Biennale, titled “CLEAN CLEAR CUT”, from March 11 to May 29, 2026.

Nickel is currently based in Santa Fe, NM where she teaches Drawing at the Institute of American Indian Arts and is represented by Nedra Matteucci Gallery and Collect Santa Fe.