Painting, for artist Nick Stock, has been a lifelong passion.

 

Born in 1979 in London, Nick’s senses were assaulted and stimulated daily; absorbing the smells, sights and sounds of a fusion of cultures in the multicultural eastern boroughs.

 

Here is where Nick believes his fascination in the movement of people and their stories was fostered. Much of Nick’s work over the last ten years is rich in social commentary. He often paints stories of migration. Stories that need a voice; of people forced to leave their home and the challenges they face along their journey.

 

With a degree in Fine Arts from the Southampton Solent Fine Art Institute, Nick has played with a range of materials on 2D surfaces. Experimenting in his earlier career with metal, wood, sand and ceramics to complement and accentuate his paintings, Nick was always fascinated with the imperfect and wanted to explore that imperfection in greater detail. A derelict building, cracks and crevices, all carried a story that Nick was drawn to tell with his brush. Over time, Nick’s style has transformed and refined, producing true-to-life oil paintings.

 

Living in Seville, Spain for five years and having spent the last eight years living in Bordeaux, France, Nick is an artist of the world, more recently travelling through Ethiopia and Uzbekistan for inspiration. Influenced by the likes of Caravaggio and contemporary artist Anselm Kiefer, Nick’s paintings similarly push boundaries and bear strong political messages.

 

Nick enjoys playing with light and negative space. Incorporating patterns into the negative space of his paintings, Nick crafts greater complexity for the viewer, playing with depth and often creating dramatic lighting with his brush to draw the viewers’ attention across the painting. Their eyes come to rest on particular features, forcing them to engage with the painting on a deeper level.

 

Previously holding solo and joint exhibitions in England, Spain and France, Nick is now part of a collective in Bordeaux, where a small group of artists, of different mediums, run a studio together. Here, they create, support and inspire one another in their artistic pursuits.