PN.

The hazy, softly enveloping landscapes of Sydney-based painter Patrick Nicholas (born 1968) explore the dematerialisation of form through the lens of atmosphere and climate. Eschewing people, animals and, for the most part, vegetation, his subject matter is elemental: light, wind and water; sand, ochre and rock. Whether hiking in the Red Centre during heavy rainfall or surfing the reefs on both sides of the continent, Nicholas captures his experiences of diverse Australian landscapes in sketches, studies and oils en plein air. 

Referencing these back in his home studio, Nicholas also draws on his memories of a particular location. These memories are of course visual – light, colour, form, composition. But also olfactory and auditory – the smell of approaching rain and the thudding sound of its first drops. Tactile – the slipperiness of wet rock on bare feet. Even gustatory – the salty tang of ocean air. 

In The Stillness of Planes, coloured rectangular forms in parallel and perpendicular relationships dissolve in coastal fog beneath veiled skies. As the planes abut and overlap, project and recede, atmospheric depth is revealed and further enhanced by the interaction of light, mist and cloud.

Multiple vanishing points entice the viewer to ‘enter’ these sea-and-sky compositions, the true subject matter of which may be the contented quietude of the artist fully absorbed. Employing a palette of violet, aquamarine, deep green and yellow, Nicholas orchestrates a harmonic sequence of threshold abstractions informed by his love of the ocean and its manifold phenomena.

Stillness and transparency. Silence and clarity. For Nicholas, art is both affirming and transforming, a zone of creative synthesis where impressions and memories mingle freely with feeling and imagination to produce pictures deeply embedded in his own experience. He instinctively calibrates the various inputs to the requirements of each work, or body of work. The Stillness of Planes was painted mostly from his imagination.