Nina Tichava
Nina Tichava was raised in both rural northern New Mexico and the Bay Area in California. She was influenced by her father, a construction worker and mathematician, and her mother, an artist and designer. The reflections of these dualities: country to city, pragmatist to artist, nature to technology, are essential to and evident in her paintings.Nina Tichava received her BFA from California College of the Arts [+ Crafts]. She lives and works in New Mexico Nina is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award Grant in 2007 and has exhibited professionally since 2009.
ARTIST STATEMENT
My paintings are about relationships; I’m interested in the interactions between materials and methods as well as the color and spatial relationships that naturally develop in process. My works are emotional and imperfect, and as objects they embody my response to things mass produced and idealized. The paintings are collections of moments from daily life: combined glimpses, thoughts, memories and objects. I am trying to describe not only what things look like, but also how they might feel.
My process-based paintings are as unplanned as possible. I search to convey a feeling of immediacy and to enhance the very physical and tactile elements of my artwork. The presence and feeling of my hand is essential to the work and ultimately my focus. Using painting and printmaking techniques, I interweave drawing and collage with a variety of media. Simultaneously painterly and constrained, my paintings are composed of complex layers, many of which are over-painted and concealed. A prominent element of my work is the application of thousands of beads of paint, painstakingly and individually painted with a brush and used to create screens and patterns. I describe my work as “abstract painting with botanical and architectural references”, as the pieces suggest natural forms (birds, leaves, branches), man-made structures (buildings, windows, lights) and patterning both natural and designed (woven fabrics, strata of earth, pixels).
SELECTED SHOWS
Mirage, 2022, Laura Rathe Fine Art, Houston Texas
Movement Patterns, 2022, Gallery MAR, Park City, Utah
Lyrical Movements, 2022, Laura Rathe Fine Art, Dallas, Texas
New Works, 2022, Gallery Wild, Jackson, Wyoming
Borrowed Landscapes, January 2021, K Contemporary, Denver CO
You Color the Sky, September 2020, K Contemporary, Denver CO
Brilliant Refraction with R.Nelson Parish, March 2020, Gallery MAR, Park City UT
Beyond Boundaries with Matt Devine, October 2019, Laura Rathe Fine Art, Dallas, TX
Glitched with Shawn Smith, June 2019, Turner Carroll Gallery, Santa Fe
Same As It Ever Was, November 2018, K Contemporary, Denver
Project: Borrowed Landscapes [Erected], July 2018, K Contemporary, Denver
Parallel with Maura Allen, January 2I018, Gallery MAR, Park City
COLLECTIONS
City of Seattle Permanent Collection, Seattle, Washington
Coen & Columbia Luxury Apartments, Vancouver, Washington
Delta Airlines Delta Club, Seattle, Washington
Fenwick and West LLP, Silicon Valley, California
Harcos-Huneke Collection, Miramonte, California
InterContinental Hotel, Minneapolis, Minnesota
Jewish Community Center and Foundation, Denver, Colorado
Oppenheimer Family Collection, Santa Fe, New Mexico
Seattle City Light Public Utility Collection, Seattle, Washington
Swedish Hospital, Seattle, Washington
True North Luxury Apartments, Seattle, Washington
Trump Ocean Club International Hotel, Panama City, Panama
University of Washington Medical Center, Seattle, Washington
RESIDENCIES AND AWARDS
2023 . Kala Art Institute AIR Program, Berkeley, CA, September 2023
Flatbed Press Artist in Residence, Austin TX, January-April 2023
2022 . Flatbed Press Monotype Intensive, Terni, Italy
2012 . Vermont Studio Center, Artist in Residence, Artist Grant
2007 . Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant Award
2003 . All College Honors, California College of the Arts [and Crafts]
