Barbara Nicholls

Critical text

Barbara Nicholls (b. 1963, Cheshire) has focused for decades on watercolours, from small to very large formats. Her practice involves ongoing experimentation with the possibilities of expanding and controlling coloured pigments mixed with water, also allowing for the intervention of chance. Her fascination with nature stems from her place of origin (the Peak District in north-western England), a region of waterways, waterfalls, and lakes, found in a flourishing nature park and the rural zone in which Nicholls resides, alternating this context with periods of time spent in her London studio. The artist places a sheet of paper on the floor, and from an overhead vantage point mixes pigments and water that spread on the surface by means of fans, while electric heaters are used to speed the process of evaporation, determining the final form and colour of the piece. The paper is then raised and placed at an angle to allow the force of gravity to expand and layer the colour. The result of the procedure is a visual reminder of micro-organisms, or resembles representations of the movements of plate tectonics, where Nicholls intervenes by adding water, as if to create fluid masses that change the geological formation and the tonal effects of these imaginary continents.

Text by Irina Zucca Alessandrelli