Image:
Mike NICHOLLS
ln humanities hands 2019
bronze
60 x 38 x 25 cm
edition of 8
28th Apr — 18th Jun 2023
Simpson Gallery
Throughout his career, Mike Nicholls has carved from single pieces of wood, revealing personal motifs including the figure diving, shields, hands, seeds, eggs and birds.
The artist explains, “I create several distinct lineages of iconography in regards to the broader issues of the world we inhabit. This process enables me to visually express commentary on such issues as the futility of war, concern for the environment and humanity’s spiritual self. It is a method of reduction, of whittling away and refining, to imbue subtle messages within my work to express a heartfelt commentary about the world within which we reside.”
A Bird in the Hand draws on the artist’s work spanning 34 years, and focuses on ‘the bird’ icon in his work. For Nicholls, the bird and its associative cycle of life “contains many metaphors, such as reverence, earth mother, peace, conscience, nest, egg and nurturing with which to convey subtle messages within my sculpture, to explore the primal being. I believe humanity is primordial at heart and with this in mind, through my sculpture, l strive to reflect world events that emotionally impact our existence.”
The title of the exhibition is taken from the well-known proverb ‘A bird in the hand, is worth two in the bush’ and its universal message: ‘the things you already have are more valuable than the things you might get’. The proverb epitomises Nicholls’ concern that in our continued race to tame the natural world we are losing the very things that we love about it. The exhibition reflects a shared social conscience with regard to the natural environment and “the collective impact we impose on our ecosystem and self, through ignorance or just wanton greed.”
The exhibition draws together pedestal-based and free-standing carved wooden sculptures—including works carved from wood sourced from a property the artist owned outside of nearby Violet Town—and a suite of framed drawings, prints, and preliminary sculptural sketches, inviting audiences into the process of conceiving and developing a theme within an arts practice spanning more than thirty years.
About the Artist
Mike Nicholls was born in 1960 and grew up on a farm in Narre Warren North. From 1980 – 1983 he studied Fine Arts at Caulfield Institute of Technology majoring in sculpture. In 1982 he became a founding member of ROAR Studios, and has travelled throughout Australia documenting his experiences in drawing, prints and paintings. He has been fortunate to have spent time on cattle stations and delivering woodcarving workshops to remote aboriginal communities throughout Cape York and the Torres Strait.
He has held over 40 solo exhibitions and featured in over ninety group exhibitions in public and private galleries, including at the National Gallery of Australia (ACT), National Gallery of Victoria (VIC), Crescent Gallery (USA), Heide, Museum of Modern Art (VIC), Art Gallery of New South Wales (NSW), Mornington Peninsula Art Gallery (VIC), Launceston Art Gallery (TAS), Geelong Art Gallery (VIC), Shepparton Art Museum (VIC), Bendigo Art Gallery (VIC), New England Regional Art Museum (NSW), Wagga Wagga City Art Gallery (NSW), and Gold Coast City Art Gallery (QLD).
Mike has won the Montalto Sculpture Prize (2018), Moonee Valley Art Prize (2006), Wyndham Art Prize (1998) and the Williamstown Art Prize (1994). His work has been selected for the Montalto Sculpture Prize (2018, 2016, 2015, 2012 and 2010), Lorne Sculpture Prize (2016), Yarra Station Sculpture Prize (2015), and the Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award (2004). In New South Wales he has been selected for the Blake Prize (2013), Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize (2010), Sculpture by the Sea (2002), Wynne Prize (1997), and internationally at the lnami International Wooden Sculpture Exhibition (Japan, 2011).