nicole storm
Born 1967, California
Has practiced at Creative Growth since 1995
Nicole Storm has been working at Creative Growth for 27 years, since 1995. For Storm, the process of creation is paramount to the final painting. Storm doesn’t simply sit or stand while working – she walks the building, rides the elevator, and hides in corners, carrying her work around as she adds layers and detail to her paintings. This is a key component of her process, and its ambulatory nature functions as a way for her to gather and harvest visual information and work through her ideas. Although Storm is not performing for anyone, watching her work is akin to watching a contemporary performance piece – she hums, takes breaks to dance, engages others in conversation, and then suddenly decides to move her artwork and clipboard to another location. Storm favors vibrant hues and likes to incorporate many layers of washes under and over her ‘notes’. She moves seamlessly between mark making with paint markers to painting with a brush, working and re-working the surface until she feels it is finished. As a natural progression of her creative process, Storm has begun directing the installation of her work for gallery exhibitions. Hanging work from the lighting grid, layering her paintings on the wall, spreading on the horizontal and vertical planes, and weaving everything together by painting on and around the works, her installations become active environments that continually evolve and become her new studio.
Nicole Storm ha trabajado en Creative Growth durante 27 años, desde 1995. Para Storm, el proceso de creación es primordial para la pintura final. Storm no simplemente se sienta o se para mientras trabaja: camina por el edificio, toma el ascensor y se esconde en las esquinas, cargando su trabajo mientras agrega capas y detalles a sus pinturas. Este es un componente clave de su proceso, y su naturaleza ambulatoria funciona como una forma para que ella recopile y recopile información visual y trabaje en sus ideas. Aunque Storm no actúa para nadie, ver su trabajo es como ver una pieza de performance contemporánea: tararea, toma descansos para bailar, entabla conversación con otros y luego, de repente, decide mover su obra de arte y su portapapeles a otro lugar. A Storm le gustan los tonos vibrantes y le gusta incorporar muchas capas de lavados debajo y encima de sus "notas". Se mueve sin problemas entre hacer marcas con marcadores de pintura y pintar con un pincel, trabajando y retrabajando la superficie hasta que siente que está terminada. Como una progresión natural de su proceso creativo, Storm ha comenzado a dirigir la instalación de su trabajo para exposiciones en galerías. Colgando obras de la rejilla de iluminación, superponiendo sus pinturas en la pared, extendiéndolas en los planos horizontales y verticales, y entretejiendo todo pintando sobre y alrededor de las obras, sus instalaciones se convierten en entornos activos que evolucionan continuamente y se convierten en su nuevo estudio.
Artist Statement:
I used to work in New York I remember. I remember working with Kathy and Judge Amy Sarah. They were my best team.
My rainbow colors - pink , purple, orange.
We have pizza in New York.
My mother is my guardian angel.
Making art is like enjoying everything we have.
Take a look at my work - It's a good explanation.
I do some prom queen on it.
I add Portland and bright sky,
and vanilla, coconut, strawberry smoothie in my hair
and peaches,
my sometimes rainbow.
I knew when I came back from Hawaii.
SELECTED EXHIBITIONS
2023
Holiday Show
Creative Growth Art Center Gallery, Oakland CA.
Creative! Growth!
Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI.
Beautiful Peace on Earth, Diane Rosenstein Gallery, Los Angeles, CA.
Recent Abstraction, Creative Growth Art Center, Oakland, CA.
Into the Brightness, Oakland Museum of California
2022
Outsider Art Fair, New York
Independent Art Fair, New York
Frieze Art Fair, New York, curated by Elizabeth Kley
2021
Nicole Storm, White Columns, New York
2020
The Rainbow Two installation, Creative Growth Gallery
2019
Outsider Art Fair, New York
2018
D’Dessin Art Fair, Paris, An Other Life, installation, Creative Growth Gallery
PRESS: 2021, The New York Times, The Brooklyn Rail, Artsy