The Flood, 1994

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

61cm x 46cm

$7,500

Provenance: Estate of the Artist Australian and International Arts
Exhibited: Cooee Art Marketplace, November 2017
Artwork story: Often tightly juxtaposed within one canvas, two realities collide abruptly with contrasting areas of colour, texture and spatial composition. Nicholls’ inventive social comment invariably carries a humorous, yet biting, edge. His imagery integrates a number of Western art conventions including surrealism, portraiture, comic book illustration and cartoon animation, with Aboriginal symbolism such as Desert dotting and Arnhem Land cross hatching, in a delicate balancing act between cultures aimed at uncovering and exposing life’s realities. This painting refers to the biblical flood as well as floods that are a part of nature in Australia. Nickolls was deeply concerned about human beings tinkering with nature in this, as in all of his works, Nickolls includes playful elements. Here the redhead famously depicted on the ubiquitous match box is being interviewed for television in the foreground as the floodwaters rise.

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1949 – 2012

synthetic polymer paint on canvas

61cm x 46cm

$7,500

Provenance: Estate of the Artist Australian and International Arts
Exhibited: Cooee Art Marketplace, November 2017
Artwork story: Often tightly juxtaposed within one canvas, two realities collide abruptly with contrasting areas of colour, texture and spatial composition. Nicholls’ inventive social comment invariably carries a humorous, yet biting, edge. His imagery integrates a number of Western art conventions including surrealism, portraiture, comic book illustration and cartoon animation, with Aboriginal symbolism such as Desert dotting and Arnhem Land cross hatching, in a delicate balancing act between cultures aimed at uncovering and exposing life’s realities. This painting refers to the biblical flood as well as floods that are a part of nature in Australia. Nickolls was deeply concerned about human beings tinkering with nature in this, as in all of his works, Nickolls includes playful elements. Here the redhead famously depicted on the ubiquitous match box is being interviewed for television in the foreground as the floodwaters rise.