Fine Arts Alumni Rob Nicholls has solo exhibition in Toronto | Fine Arts

Rob Nicholls Endless, Endless, 2018 (detail)

Rob Nicholls (MFA 2012) has his first first solo show, Spirit Trails, at the Angell Gallery. The exhibition runs from Saturday, January 12 until Saturday, February 9, 2019, with the opening reception on January 12 from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m.

Nicholls likens making a painting to composing music. (As well as painting, he writes and performs music under the moniker Provincial Parcs.) For him, the modulated and shifting brushstrokes in his new paintings find their equivalent in ambient music, in which pitches change frequency, or long droning notes – like a long line of paint – allows for shifts in tone and timbre. He will often listen to Spiritual Jazz or Ambient Electronica while working, and keeps instruments at the studio, moving back and forth between painting and playing. “There’s a reciprocity between the two, each informs the other,” he says. “There’s a steady rhythm I aim for while painting, moving from one stroke to the next, allowing the work to steadily and fluidly compose itself.” – Bill Clarke

Rob Nicholls "Endless, Endless," 2018 (detail) oil on canvas 48" x 108"