A Kind of Magic

Artist Nicky Foreman draws upon an ancient ‘science of the soul’ to work through issues in her painting and her personal life.

 

It pays to choose the words you use to describe Nicky Foreman’s paintings carefully; she’ll most likely consider them a critical assessment of her state of mind and spiritual development.

The Taranaki-born, Auckland-based artist has long held a deep fascination with alchemy – the ancient sacred science concerned with transforming ordinary objects into precious ones and attaining spiritual enlightenment along the way.

For Nicky, whose exhibition of new work opens at Christchurch’s The Art House Gallery on September 8, painting is a modern form of alchemy. It’s a partly intuitive, partly intellectual process which leads both artist and viewer to a better understanding of themselves and the world at large. She aims to take ordinary materials, in terms of the various media she employs and her subject matter, and reset them to create something transcendental.

“Painting invites me into contemplation,” she says. “I look at the small things in life – the familiar and the ordinary – which are no less important to one’s soul than some of the larger issues of human existence. I like Carl Jung’s quote: “You will find yourself only in the simple and forgotten things.”

Her most recent works, which are oil paintings embellished with assorted other materials including gold, silver and copper leaf, inks, patinas, wax and shellacs, combine everyday and allegorical images inspired by her Taranaki upbringing and her travels through France and Ireland, where she explored her Catholic and Celtic heritages. Their colour palettes are inspired by both New Zealand and French landscapes, the bright light and vivid hues of the former contrasting with the softer shades of the latter.

The Circular canvasses and motifs reflect her enduring interest in circles’ innumerable representations in nature and the various ideas they are used to represent in areas as diverse as art, maths and science.

Many of the images within the works appear to be incongruent: mountains, trees, flowers and barbed-wire fences sit alongside allegorical symbols, inviting viewers to consider possible connections between them and draw conclusions with personal resonance.
If it sounds complex, don’t feel too discouraged. Even Nicky has trouble explaining her artistic style – let alone any hidden meanings.

“I still can’t explain it succinctly after 20 years!” she laughs. “Basically, each of the images in my paintings has a connection to my life, where I have travelled and what is precious to me.”
Something, or rather somewhere, particularly close to Nicky’s heart is France, which she has visited regularly since 1998. In 2005, she completed a three-month residency in Vallauris, a small community beside the French Riviera. Once inhabited almost exclusively by potters and other ceramic artists (Pablo Picasso lived there for seven years), Vallauris still boasts a vibrant art scene.

Nicky’s time there proved particularly productive, something she attributes to being part of a community which considers art as essential to everyday life as eating and drinking.
“I loved the way society lived with painting and art,” she says. “Art set apart from life becomes too precious and elite.”

From then on, Nicky says her work has been, “in essence, a hybrid of the contrasting environments of New Zealand and France.”

Keenly aware from an early age that art was her calling, Nicky has always pursued it wholeheartedly. She pretty much took up residence in her high school art room as a teen and went on to graduate with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree from Auckland University’s Elam in 1992.

After organising an exhibition with a friend shortly after graduation, Nicky was ‘picked up’ by a local gallery and has exhibited regularly in Auckland, New Plymouth, Wellington and Christchurch ever since.

These days, Nicky balances her art practice with teaching at Whitecliffe College of Arts and Design and various high schools. She spends most days and a fair few nights in her home-studio in Auckland’s Remuera.

“Because my studio’s at home, I very rarely switch off completely,” she says. “But if I need a break, I have coffee with a friend or catch a movie in the middle of the day, one of the true pleasures of being self-employed.”

Having exhibited consistently throughout her career, Nicky has managed to avoid becoming a stereotypically struggling artist. That said, being self-employed presents plenty of challenges.

“It’s not for the fainthearted,” she says. “The money is inconsistent and I am somewhat at the mercy of the market.”

Nicky is currently working with a business mentor to develop a sustainable business plan and is also striving to promote her work to a wider audience by helping her art dealers with marketing plans and via her website and Facebook profile.

Considering travel an essential source of inspiration, she makes an annual pilgrimage to the northern hemisphere, allowing herself plenty of time in her beloved France.

“Trips away are my best time for relaxing, taking stock and thinking about new directions,” she says.

When her caught up with Nicky, she had just returned from St Tropez, where a friend had organised an exhibition for her at the country estate of a very elderly but very accommodating art dealer, and was working hard to secure an exhibition at the Vasarely Foundation in Aix-en-Provence.

Nicky says she feels “truly blessed” to be able to paint every day and hopes art and travel will continue to be the dominant themes in her life, saying she would love to take up other residencies overseas.

Outside the studio, you’re most likely to spot her careering along a country highway on a mate’s motorbike. Or watching sport on television.

“I love motorbikes but I don’t own one at the moment so I’m always talking a friend, who has a fabulous bike, into rides. I watch [motorsports] on TV too and a lot of rugby, a sport I coached for nine years.”

I wonder if an image of a motorbike, or the All Blacks, will ever find its way into her work, and what the ancient alchemists would have thought of it?
Lorna Thornber