Today we’d like to introduce you to Christina Nicola.
Christina, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
By the time I was five, I knew for sure and without a doubt that I wanted to be an artist. Just like my paternal grandmother, I was chosen to be a painter, a draftswoman, a creator.
That is until I turned six. That year, I saw a happy man painting “happy trees” on television.
Thinking to myself. “I can’t paint like that”, this moment was to be my first experience with self-doubt.
However, as all-encompassing as doubt can be, the lust for mark making is always stronger. As I grew in age and experience, I learned I never needed to paint like Bob Ross–I just needed to paint like myself.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I like to say I’m a melanin maker.
I’m not representing the figure with my pieces, my work becomes the figure.
I’m obsessed with constructing the figure, form, and flesh of brown and black people.
The pigmentation–varied and vibrant is a nod to the sheer infinity of dark skin.
Just as I’m still piecing together my identity as a black woman, my work explores what it means to exist in this blackness– as is the case in my portraits.
One such piece, “I met God and She’s Black” is about unpacking one’s self as a deity; defining one’s self in the sheer power and agency of a Black Woman, as creator and life giver.
Just as the model and activist Ebonee Davis is “healing the self-image” of black girls, I too search for healing from a negative self-image as I embody women and men of color in my work.
There is a process to my work that is never quite the same. The majority of my work uses a variety of mediums: watercolor, acrylic paint, oil pastel, chalk, screen printing ink, India ink, charcoal, tar, and/or collage on unprimed canvas, paper, wood and/or stretched canvas
I consider myself to be a draftswoman first and a painter second.
My current process looks something like this:
1. A quick pen or pencil sketch from life or a photo.
2. A 10-second wash of acrylic.
3. Using oil pastel to lay the base of the skin.
4. Layering with acrylic and/or watercolor.
5. Redefining the contour of the face/body with oil pastel, charcoal or India ink.
6. Repeating steps three – five ad infinitum.
Have things improved for artists? What should cities do to empower artists?
As a black artist, conditions in the art world are particularly inspiring.
This is the first generation of artists that are living and creating in a time when the art world is actively supporting black art and black artists on a global scale.
More institutions and collectors than ever before are seeking out, making space for, and championing black artists.
Though some detractors may reduce this to a trend, the world will never tire of seeing and celebrating the black figure and form, just as I’ll never tire of portraying it.
Yes, it’s been done.
Yes, it’s still being done.
And it will keep being done as long as art continues to be made.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
To see my work, stay connected with me through Instagram and my website:
@Christina.Nicola
or through my site.
As I have open studios and exhibitions, I will share them there.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.christinanicola.me
- Phone: 3058343603
- Instagram: Instagram.com/Christina.Nicola
Image Credit:
Jonelle Demby
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