RECENT NEWS
February 2023
Order and Unknowing: Paintings by Nicole Collins, February 5, 2023 to May 3, 2023
Essay by Mona Filip
12 Degrees, 15 Beverly Street, Toronto
Monday through Sunday 11 am to 5 pm
"12 Degrees is very happy to present “Order and Unknowing”, a solo show of 5
paintings by Nicole Collins. Featuring two new large-scale “decreations”, this exhibition focuses on an ongoing cycle of creation,
undoing and renewal with wax as medium.
Collins will be present at 12 Degrees to meet visitors and discuss her work on Saturdays February 11, 18 and 25 from 3 to 5 pm.
March 2022
energy ever present in dazzling array, March 23 - April 19, 2022
Making visible thefelt-but-unseen energy particles in constant motion around and within us,Collins retreated to her home studio in the midst of the ongoing pandemic,using only the materials at hand: the vibrancy of oil and pigment, repetitionand the pull of the centre.
“Energyever present, invisible to the eye made visible oil, pigment, woven fabric,wood, no screens. Making marks, over and over again, moving out from the‘centre’, or pulsating inwards, towards, circling, cycling, jumping andflowing. The moment of allcolours joining forces to contrast with thedazzling array. To shake us from our reverie, from the distractions of theunfocussed gaze. Forget yourself. Remember yourself. A speck, a particlebouncing around, going with the flow, not by choice but by force, by entropy,by the undeniable, inevitable, irresistible, unavoidable pull. Let go,submit, submit, close your eyes and drift, it’s all right. The eventhorizon behind your tired eyelids: go there, come back and tell us what youhave seen.”
Nicole Collins, March 2022
January 2021
Crucible Remains January 25 - February 28, 2021
Nicole Collins: Crucible Remains
Presented by CMS Arts on Artsy
#crucible2020 derives from envisioning and research-creationinitiated in 2019. It was the intentional melting and transformation of apersonal archive of encaustic paintings. Wax, a surprisingly stablematerial is open to re-forming in the presence ofextreme heat. In the time frame of the series, COVID-19 was also bringing akind of heat to our wax-like and vulnerableexistence. Time and energies prompted the question: When is a paintingfinished? Most of the material dissolved and was captured in sculptural form,the stretchers re-purposed, the canvas conserved for a future work. Othermatter persisted, re-incarnated, across decades, stubbornly resisting theprocess. Intentional. Unexpected. That which remains.
September 2020
Thirty Works: an online art sale in support of visual artists and the Koffler Centre of the Arts
September 1–15, 2020
Showcasing an enticing collection of artworks by the following artists:
2Fik | Sara Angelucci | Barbara Astman | Ghazaleh Avarzamani | Mary Anne Barkhouse | Nicole Collins | Sarindar Dhaliwal | Erika DeFreitas | Sameer Farooq | Leila Fatemi | nichola feldman-kiss | Nicolas Fleming | Rafael Goldchain | Adad Hannah | Iris Häussler | Kristiina Lahde | Sanaz Mazinani & Mani Mazinani | Caroline Monnet | Ed Pien | Birthe Piontek | Howard Podeswa | Lyla Rye | Carol Sawyer | Penelope Stewart | Karen Tam | José Luis Torres | Jinny Yu | Shaheer Zazai | Shellie Zhang | Z’otz* Collective
I'm pleased to be included, with Michael Davidson, in the exhibition Artistic Pairings, from September 12 - October 10, 2020, at Herringer Kiss Contemporary Art in Calgary, Canada
"Artistic Pairings peersinto the lives and studio practices of 6 art-making couples; Renée Duval &Dennis Ekstedt (Montreal), Barbara Milne& Bill Laing (Calgary), Ben Skinner & Genevieve Dionne (Vancouver),Laurel Johannesson & Marty Kaufman (Calgary), Nicole Collins & MichaelDavidson (Toronto) and Katie Ohe & Harry Kiyooka (Calgary). The exhibitionwill show each couples’ work, side by side, along with text from the artists onhow their partner in life and art influences, inspires and supports their ownart practice."
April 2020:
Check out my new page on Singulart
Big Thanks to Spencer Robertson of Collateral Photography for the very real portraits
one.16 returns October 25 - 27, 2019
In collaboration with CMS Art Projects, I will be unveiling a limited edition digital print, part of a series based on the one.16 paintings, at this year's Edition/4, at Art Toronto 2019, October 25 - 27, 2019. Special pricing at the fair!
one.16 multiplier 1, 2019
digital print on Hahnemuler rag paper, 20” x 20”
edition of 16
a compilation of “everything”
a reordering of images
a graphic score
This limitededition digital print is the first in a series, a continuation of one.16,a group of paintings first exhibited in 2006. In one.16 a set of parameters was established (size ofcanvas, size of brushes, wax medium, palette, order of application) and thenall 16 were painted concurrently. Despite these calculations, the evidence ofthe hand is deeply felt. In economics, the multiplier is the factor by which thereturn deriving from an expenditure exceeds the expenditure itself. That is theintention of these prints. Using the same system as one.16 and the nearinfinite variables available in digital imaging tools an eventual suite of 16images (edition of 16 each) will be realized.
I will be co-teaching a new course: Masterclass: Ignite Your Creativity in Italy with Anda Kubis
at the OCADU Florence Studios in June 2019
Curated by Francesca Valente
Opening October 24, 2018, 7pm
OCADU OnSite Gallery
199 Richmond Street West Toronto ON
Unlikely Impulse: Nicole Collins and Bogdan Luca
October 24 - 31, 3 - 7 pm
Artists in Attendance from 5pm daily
Drinks and Conversation with the Artists: October 28, 2018, 5 - 7
OUR Gallery
1444 Dupont Street # 31 Toronto ON
Artists Nicole Collins and Bogdan Luca share an interest in the transfigurative potential of painting and the shifting meaning of images. Approaching the exhibition as a beginning rather than an end, they propose an installation that will be the subject of a free form discussion involving the artists, invited guests and the visiting public. The goal is to discover affinities between distinct approaches to painting and to articulate the initial unlikely impulse to put their works together.
Publication:
anti-matter: Essay by David Dorenbaum in response to Furthest Boundless
Developed in conjunction with L'esprit de l'escalier and the Koffler Gallery's winter exhibition (Nicole Collins: Furthest Boundless), the inaugural Koffler.Digital publication is a collection of essays, interviews and visual art that explores the many ways we cope with, and make sense of death. Featured artists and writers include:
Aaditya Aggarwal
Nicole Collins
Letticia Cosbert
Erika DeFreitas
Mona Filip
C. Jonasson
Anya Moryoussef
Dainesha Nugent-Palache
Patricia Ritacca
Eric Beck Rubin
CCC
"In a major, new mixed media installation complemented by a series of recent paintings, Toronto artist Nicole Collins delves into the emotional territory of loss as she explores the human struggle between grief and acceptance, gravity and grace."
January 18 – March 18, 2018
Koffler Gallery
Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street
Curator: Mona Filip
WINTER OPENING RECEPTION:
Thursday, January 18, 2018 | 6–9 PM
BOUNDLESS QUESTIONS:
Sunday, February 11, 2018 | 2 PM | FREE
Through their distinctive vision and creative processes, artists can carve out a space to ask the most difficult questions and explore our deepest fears. The anxiety of facing death and the unknown are at the core of human experience, leaving profound marks on the ways in which we construct our reality and shape society, politics and culture. In a conversation moderated by psychoanalyst Dr. David Dorenbaum, visual artists Nicole Collins, Erika DeFreitas and Tim Whiten discuss the role art plays as they grapple with these questions and their psychological weight. Seating is limited. RSVP required.
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/boundless-questions-tickets-42507879211
Listen to the Podcast on Koffler Digital here
THE SACRED HARP | Sunday, February 25, 2018 | 2 PM | FREE
Join Nicole Collins and the Toronto Shape-Note Singers for an introduction to shape-note singing from The Sacred Harp tradition that inspired the sound element in Furthest Boundless. The “sacred harp” is the human voice, which combines in this practice into a four-part acapella harmony of hymns and anthems, in an inclusive, non-denominational musical event.
CONTEMPORARY ART BUS TOUR | Sunday, March 4, 2018 | 12 – 5 PM | FREE
Tour starts at the Koffler Gallery (at Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street) and then departs for Art Gallery of Mississauga, AGYU, and Doris McCarthy Gallery, returning to Shaw Street at 5 PM. Seating is limited. RSVP required.
PREVIOUSLY:
ONE SHOT - EARLY WORKS OF NICOLE COLLINS
Saturday January 20th, 2018 2-6 PM
Exhibition runs through February 24, 2018
General Hardware Contemporary
1520 Queen Street West
“Every new body of work, every exhibition for an artist feels like the one shot that we have at getting itright, a faulty, but useful superstition for getting things done. In the earlydays of working with encaustic, I was enchanted by the immediacy of the paint:liquid and molten on the brush, it lands and cools almost simultaneously,capturing the speed and motion of the hand, the very temperature of the room. Humores (1994) was assigned 4 colours,one for each of the four “humours” identified by Hippocrates as the essentialfluids in the living human body (blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile). Thefinal marks are black (for bile, melancholy), the very first time I used blackon a painting, an indicator of an obsession that has played out over theensuing 24 years and found its’ zenith in FurthestBoundless.”
Nicole Collins
PILLOW TALK
This group exhibition emerges from a desire
to articulate a field of relations between partners and their painting practice.
Co-Curated by Matthew Ryan Smith Nicole Collins & Michael Davidson Dave andJenn (courtesy of Trépanier Baer Gallery) Gina Rorai & David Urban (courtesy of Corkin Gallery)
Review of Pillow Talk by Vanessa Zeoli on ARTORONTO
Review of Pillow Talk by Terence Dick on AKIMBO
February 10, 2016
FREE Live Performances
12:00 - 2:00 pm,
Panel discussion with the Artists: 2:30 - 4:00 pm in the Great Hall OCADU
Participating Artists: Ram Samocha, collaboration with Nava Masses Waxman, Francisco-Fernando Granados, Robert Luzar, Kerryn Graham, Nicole Collins (with Marina Stojkovic), Kate Wilson, Cathy Daley.
February 21, 2016 | 2 PM
FREE Instrument of Knowledge: Painting as Philosophy Artist Conversation and Catalogue Launch
Artscape Youngplace, 180 Shaw Street Join us for the official launch of the catalogue Howard Podeswa: A Brief History featuring essays by John Bentley Mays and Mona Filip as well as a conversation between Stephen Andrews and Howard Podeswa, followed by an artist-led tour of the exhibition and an in-depth conversation about contemporary painting.
As one of the oldest forms of artistic expression, painting originated from a human desire to capture the experience of the physical realm in visual form in order to make sense of the world. Throughout its history, painting has often been positioned as an instrument for understanding reality and contemplating the unknown. In a captivating discussion, artists Nicole Collins, Howard Podeswa, Jinny Yu and moderator John Armstrong consider the role of painting in engaging the fundamental questions of existence as well as the ways their own art practices reflect on traditions.
Koffler podcast of Instrument of Knowledge: Painting as Philosophy
Oct. 22 – 26, 2015
Art Toronto
General Hardware Contemporary
Booth C28
May 1- 31 2015
Artist in Residence
at Sointula Art Shed, Malcolm Island, BC
March 26, 2015
Project 31 OCADU Fundraising Auction
one.16.15, 2006
54” x 54” encaustic on canvas
sold over estimate,
proceeds to the Peter Porcal Memorial Scholarship for Students in the Florence Program
February, 2015
Lacis
OCADU Student Gallery, Toronto
Group Exhibition
Curated by Claire Bartleman
Recent Review of “untethered”
Canadian Art Magazine
June 21 from 2:00 – 2:30 pm
Artist Talk:
Nicole Collins in Conversation with Richard Rhodes, Editor of Canadian Art Magazine
General Hardware Contemporary
1520 Queen Street West
Toronto
Jan. 2014
ALMOST EVERYTHING
With works by Lorna Bauer, Nicole Collins, David Court, Deborah Kirk, Josh Thorpe, and Blake Williams
Exhibition Dates: January 16 – February 14, 2014
Opening Reception: January 16, 7 – 9pm
Curated by Julia Abraham
Eric Arthur Gallery
John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design University of Toronto 230 College Street Toronto, ON
M5T 1R2 Canada
Tel: (416) 978-5038
Fax: (416) 971-2094
Email: enquiry@daniels.utoronto.ca
Gallery Hours: Monday to Friday 9am – 5pm
26 is a domestic viewing space for contemporary art in the Beaconsfield neighbourhood of Toronto, Canada. Featuring an open program of diverse local and international artists, 26 seeks to engage the viewer in a critical and relaxed experience with art. Launching in September, 2013, 26 is the first curatorial collaboration between artists Nicole Collins and Michael Davidson www.michaeldavidson.net
See a short film about 26 by Alec McKay here:
Nov. 2013
Art at 26: Two Toronto artists help make art around the hearth
Sept. - Oct. 2013
Reviews: HEAVY: Black Paintings
Robert Reid, Universities Present Fall Exhibitions (Web)
Robert Reid, Universities Present Fall Exhibitions (PDF)
Erin Leach, When Heavy Black Paintings Collide (Web)
Erin Leach, When Heavy Black Paintings Collide (PDF)
July 11 – August 31, 2013
Skipping Stones: Summer Group Show
Opening Reception: Thursday July 11 from 6- 9 pm
General Hardware Contemporary is pleased to present Skipping Stones, a summer group show featuring recent work by various GHC artists. The exhibition will include works by: John Armstrong & Paul Collins, Alex Bierk, Jordan Broadworth, Matt Crookshank, Nicole Collins, Michael Davidson, Scott Everingham, Joe Fleming, Erik Jerezano, Caroline Larsen, Derrick Piens, Celia Neubauer and Julie Voyce.
1520 Queen St. W. Toronto Canada M6R 1A4
Tel. 416-821-3060
Hours: Wed – Sat 12– 6 pm, and by appointment
Sunday, June 23, 2013
The Plasticiens and Beyond: Panel Discussion – Painting Today
Time: 2:00 PM to 4:00 PM
Location: 216 Main St. Unionville, Markham, ON L3R 2H1
Cost: Public: $15 | Members $10
Moderated by writer and artist John Kissick. Painting has moved from the confines of the canvas into sculptural forms, installation, and new media. Three contemporary artists — Vanessa Maltese, Nicole Collins and Francine Savard — discuss materiality, multidisciplinary influence, and personal approaches to their practice. To register contact 905-477-7000 ext. 3261 or iofficers@markham.ca
Event Organizer: Varley Art Gallery
Telephone: 905-477-7000 ext.3261
Email Contact: iofficers@markham.ca
Website Address: www.varleygallery.ca
April 20– May 18
perfect: an installation of works on paper by Nicole Collins
Reception: Saturday April 20 from 4- 7 pm, artist in attendance.
General Hardware Contemporary
"in the project room Nicole Collin's will exhibit an installation of works
on paper created during her recent four month stay in Florence"
1520 Queen St. W. Toronto Canada
April 27 – June 23, 2013
Nicole Collins: Giotto's O
opening reception Friday April 26, 5-7. remarks @ 6
Young Gallery (through FRANK restaurant) Art Gallery of Ontario
317 Dundas Street West, Toronto Ontario Canada M5T 1G4
AGO First Thursday May 2, 2013
"will it go round in circles?"
A site specific choreographed metalpoint wall drawing for 3 artists
tickets available here:
Past
January 2013
Giotto’s O at Young Gallery, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto.
Breaking Black at The McMaster Museum of Art, Hamilton, Ontario.
Review: Breaking Black in Canadian Art
May 2012
60 Painters Exhibition
Aug. 2012
Howard Park Institute, Window Installation
2088 Dundas Street W, (right at Howard Park) Toronto
Jan, 2012
Spirit Flown acquired by The Donovan Collection, St. Michael's College,
University of Toronto.
Jan. 21, 2012
Canadian Art: Glimpses of Renewal
Read Article
November 17, 2011 to January 21, 2012
The Reconstruction, General Hardware Contemporary,
Opening: Thursday November 17, 6-9
Dec. 2, 2011
Artsync TV
Watch Nicole Collins Interview
September 23 to 25
6 Painters, Howard Park Institute, Opening Friday Sept.23 7-10pm,
Saturday & Sunday 12-6 pm,
2088 Dundas Street W, (right at Howard Park) Toronto
August 2011
Nicole Collins is now represented in Hamilton by b contemporary.
January 2011
Nicole Collins is now represented in Toronto by General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto
December 2010
Exhibition: aqua10 Miami
December 2010
Exhibition: Taking Shape, General Hardware Contemporary, Toronto
October 2010
Exhibition: General Hardware Contemporary Inaugural Exhibition
May 2010
Art School (dismissed), group exhibition curated by Heather Nicol,
Givins Shaw Public School, Toronto
March 2010
Project 31, fundraiser for Ontario College of Art & Design