We are all recycled: Friday Feature - Nicholas Nickleby Johnson (Artist)

Nicholas Nickleby Johnson

Nicholas Nickleby Johnson is a musician and visual artist from Chicago, who is currently residing in Northwest Indiana.

He first began to gain recognition for his Humanoids Doing Fervid Things series; seven oil paintings depicting skeletal alien like creatures against desolate backdrops and landscapes (which he would eventually start referring to as GloomWorld ).

After the Humanoids series he began refining the look of the inhabitants of GloomWorld with his Anhydrous Sculptures - creepy, often cute 8” statues crafted from bio-hazardous materials.

Nicholas has since moved on to a variety of subjects with his painting, including pop culture icons, decrepit cityscapes, science fiction imagery and his own imagined creatures and realities.

Questions for Nicholas Nickleby Johnson

1 – When did you first start painting and what made you start?

I've always been a hyper-creative person. Be it playing music, doodling, writing; I can't remember a time when I wasn't trying to create something from my imagination. I started to get serious about oil painting about 4 years ago and it began as just another way to extend the creative process for me. As soon as I started to get a bit of attention for it, I was hooked.

2 – Your Gloomworld creations are beautiful but desolate, what inspired you to pain these characters and in this style?

Thank you. I don't know that I consciously set out to create any sort of specific vibe at first. Once the format had been set for the doom and gloom type of imagery, I made the decision to stay on that path for the most part. But really in the beginning I just let what wanted to come out happen. Like a stream-of-consciousness type of writing. I had no fear then of trying to impress or inspire or progress. I only painted what felt right.

3 – You then brought these characters to life in sculptures, where you pleased with how they turned out and did they bring anything extra to the original vision you had for the characters?

The sculptures certainly informed the doodles that have become quite popular, as far as character design. But the process in creating them was a bit different from the paintings at the time. I basically wanted to create an image that you could empathize with immediately. Something with emotional nuances you could connect to and understand without a second thought. The true artistic device there, for me, was crafting them out of bio-hazardous materials. Here's this thing that you can connect with on a visual and emotional level, but that you could never obtain or touch or come into any sort of physical contact with. I suppose in a way they help to magnify the vibe of the oil paintings- you feel for this character but you know, after some thought, that we have to let it be and reach it's prophecy on its own. I'd say I'm pretty happy with the juxtaposition that the sculptures emphasize within my work.

4 – What artist living or dead is your biggest inspiration?

There's so many! I'd say the first time that I felt something while looking at a piece of visual art and thought "I want to be able to do this to people" was the first time I saw a collection of paintings from Menton Mathews III, or Menton3. The reaction I had inside of me was a very intense thing. Paralyzing. But again, so many writers and musicians and visual artist really inspire me on a daily basis. Especially since I started making this kind of art myself. I seek that stuff out now.

5 – What advice would you give to other artists who want to paint but are struggling to get started or know what to paint?

Just go for it. To this day a lot of my work is 5 or 6 other ideas and paintings before it becomes what it is. If you have the will to let your mind just take over and see what comes of it, you'll be unstoppable. And that's with any sort of art. It's an amazing thing to just let your imagination take over for a bit and then look at it later and realize that you brought out some part of yourself you didn't even know existed.

After hearing the way Nicholas thinks and feels about his art it makes the wonderful creations even more vivid and beautiful, he is definitely a talent worth keeping an eye on and I look forward to seeing more from him in the future!