The physicality and layering in Niki Holmes’ landscape and figure painting evokes the balance natural processes and human activity that shape landscape and our relationship to it, forming a sense of place and of self.
The ambiguous and contradictory relationships people have with nature have become her focus – counterpointing personal and contemporary experiences of the landscape, from indifference, exploitation and environmental anxiety to nostalgia, cultural and mythic reverence and a sense of the sublime numinous.
Each image attempts to coalesce many twisted strands of remembering and relating into something substantial and essential. The works are about recreating a sense of place, but also a state of mind.
Niki Holmes trained in painting and printmaking at UWE Bristol, Université de Luminy, Marseille and the Royal Academy of Arts, London.
She has taught and facilitated at the Royal College of Art, City and Guild Schools, the Architect Association, the Mary Ward Centre, London and the Shrewsbury School.
She has also worked in Arts in Health, Public and Environment Art and in Scenic Arts for local theatre companies.
Originally from Mid Sussex, Niki has lived and worked in Shropshire for 20 years.
