Andrew Nicholls is an Australian/British artist, writer, and curator based in Boorloo/Perth, whose practice engages with the sentimental, camp, and other historically-marginalised aesthetics, and traces the historical recurrence of particular aesthetic motifs. He is especially concerned with periods of cultural transition during which Western civilisation’s stoic aspirations were undone by base desires, fears or compulsions, and with 18th century and Regency Britain’s fascination with, and paranoia of, other cultures.
While primarily drawing-based, his practice also incorporates ceramics, photography, and expansive site-based curatorial projects. He particularly draws inspiration from heritage sites and museum collections, and has coordinated group and solo residencies at iconic locations including the Spode China Factory, the Freud Museum, London, and the Royal Pavilion, Brighton. Nicholls has exhibited and undertaken residencies across Australia, Southeast Asia, Italy, the United Kingdom and the United States, including a solo exhibition at The Art Gallery of Western Australia in 2018.
He has recieved two Creative Development Fellowships from the Western Australian Government, and commissioned by several organisations in Australia and the United States, including his $250,000 ceiling mural for the City of Perth Library. Nicholls’ work is represented in collections including Artbank, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, City of Perth, Janet Holmes à Court, and the Kedumba Collection of Australian Drawings.