Nikkie le Nobel
Nikkie le Nobel is a botanical painter who has exhibited extensively throughout The Netherlands and across Europe in Spain, France, Germany, and Belgium . Recent exhibitions in The Netherlands include Galerie Année in Haarlem, Contempo Gallery in Rotterdam, and the Flower Art Museum in Aalsmeer. Notable publications include Art by Nature magazine, Palet Magazine, and Dutch Artsy Souls blog. Nikkie has participated extensively in art fairs since 1993 including most recently at Art Laren and KunstRAI Amsterdam.
Organic and free flowing, Nikkie portrays various botanical gardens and scenery representationally, abstractly, and through layout designs. She paints with oil, acrylic, and often incorporates embroidery onto the canvas through stitching. Nikkie’s works can be traced through 7 sets of series which portray variation from photo-realistic paintings of gardens and exotic plant arrangements in jars to abstracted compositions which may appear almost like peering into far away galaxies but are still based on plant-life.
One of the most important aspects to understand with these botanical paintings would be to recognize the importance of the manipulation of light in Nikkie’s paintings. Even in her more realistic works, light becomes bended and distorted through glass or through the air in her more abstract paintings. The prismatic light creates a sfumato and haze which blurs the line between atmosphere and subject matter. As we view these paintings, the viewer will feel as if they have wandered through an exotic botanical garden filled with unusual plants. The serenity and peacefulness of the garden leaves these paintings as motifs of refuge and an oasis within the space.
Echoes of a Garden 4 (pictured above) takes us on a journey through an abstracted botanical experience. The painting contains only three variations of colors making the work more like a design rather than a piece of representation. With leaves falling in a vertical pattern, the purple foliage pops throughout the surface sporadically, followed by a remarkable turquoise background filled with embroidery stitching. The luminosity of the leaves creates a serene blurring effect which contrasts with the dark purple.
Nikkie le Nobel can be described as a dream-like painter who guides the viewer towards a path into her unique botanical gardens and foliage. With mesmerizing visuals and almost neon-color blurred effects containing sophisticated atmospheric lighting, the audience becomes hypnotized into a trance upon studying the works more closely. These paintings stun the viewer and remind us of the sheer power and beauty of nature, especially when deconstructed and repurposed to have greater contemporary and philosophical identity.
