The Ohio Artist Registry (OAR) is an exciting opportunity for artists to share their work, connect with the creative community, and establish an online presence—all on a free, virtual platform! The OAR encourages artists working in all art forms, throughout Ohio and beyond, to create a profile, which allows them to better promote themselves and their work. Being listed in the OAR provides artists with new opportunities to share their work with clients, galleries, patrons, and audiences. A listing in the OAR does not confer an endorsement, approval, or verification by the Ohio Arts Council.
For more information, contact Kathy Signorino, artist programs director, at kathy.signorino@oac.ohio.gov or 614-728-6140.
2024 Ohio Artist Registry Juried Exhibition
Nick Stull
Bio
Nick received his BFA from Ohio Wesleyan University with a concentration in painting, drawing, and sculpture. His experimental portraiture has been exhibited locally, regionally, and nationally and he is represented by Sarah Gormley Gallery in Columbus, OH. Recent solo exhibitions include: Room with a View, Mansfield Art Center, Mansfield, OH (2023), Surfaces, Sarah Gormley Gallery, Columbus, OH (2022); Vessel Verses, Blockfort Gallery, Columbus, OH (2020); Subcutaneous, Gallery 22, Delaware, OH (2019); and All the Water We Have is All the Water We Have Ever Had, Red Arrow Gallery, Nashville, TN (2018). Nick also owns an art & design company called Day Blink Creative, where he produces a variety of large-scale murals, custom painting & portraiture, and branding & design projects.
Prior to Day Blink Creative, Nick was an exhibit designer and installation supervisor at The Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, OH. He oversaw the design, layout, and installation of numerous exhibitions. Other past positions include: Co-Owner and Gallery Director of 83 Gallery and Gallery Director of Mac Worthington Gallery. Nick also serves on the board for The Ross Art Museum at Ohio Wesleyan University.
Artist Statement
As a figurative painter, I am fascinated by the curious, impossible ambition of humanity: to fully understand one another.
Through my art, I explore the tension between my subject’s surface and their depth. I convey depth physically and metaphorically, through value tones, atmospheric layering, and moments of realism. I reference my subject’s surface with geometric flat planes, formed by graphic patterning and intricate wallpaper-like designs. I weave this patchwork of styles together with a variety of media, including oil paint, acrylic paint, aerosol, charcoal, and ink pen. By combining a number of disparate styles and methods of paint application, my work conveys the paradoxes that make up a person’s psyche. This cognitive dissonance is a common, necessary experience of the human condition, as we try to navigate the complexities of the modern world.
In my studio practice, I explore our relation to the natural world, and in particular, ways in which people interact with bodies of water. This includes the ecological study of other organisms and how their existence is intertwined with humans. I convey these relationships through large-scale painted narratives, as well as weaving stories and themes into my portrait paintings.
The surface of the sea is a recurring motif in my work, through which I explore how groups of people collaborate and, more often, collide with water. I subvert the general seduction of water, conveying instead urgency and anxiety. In the stories depicted, the surface of water represents uncertainty and, perhaps, peril, as travelers separate themselves from it with boats and thick clothing.
This literal and figurative conflict between surface and depth often presents a cryptic view of my subject(s). Patches of realism may provide specific glimpses of an individual, but these moments of intimate detail are layered with spaces of anonymity, suggested by flat, abstract patterns. This camouflage suggests the mystery of human identity, and the futility of our attempts to fully decode it. Yet, relationships are at our core, so humans and artists will never stop trying. I try to shape my paintings with our shared basic, absurd human drive to truly know another person.