Artist Biography
Gaylin Nicholson is an award winning artist living and working in Kansas City, KS. Deeply fascinated by storytelling and memory, his work explores the fluctuating nature of personal history and how our domestic environments shape our reflections on the past. Gaylin’s work uses a wide range of methods, techniques, materials and found objects to imbue them with the myths and stories of his life. Drawing on his experience in scenic design and construction he fuels his obsession with architecture, residence, and materiality. Gaylin received his Associate of Fine Arts from Johnson County Community College (2023) where he now works as a Studio Technician in addition to contracting as an art handler and preparator. His work has been shown in the Kansas City Artist Coalition, Albrecht-Kemper Museum of Art, Holsum Gallery, United Colors Container Gallery, Salina Arts Center, and Tomahawk Ridge Community Center.
Artist Statement
My work explores the innate connection we have to the spaces we inhabit through distorting and re-contextualizing familiar and intimate spaces with new materials, forms and environments. I draw heavily on memories of my childhood and the modest upbringing I come from. Reminiscing on elements of my past that felt so insignificant, I seek to extract what secrets, stories, and lessons that I missed when I was there. In pursuit of the tales imbued into the spaces around us, my practice honors the labor of those who devoted themselves to the creation of these spaces that fuel my obsession. My work asks us to consider what hides in the walls around us, how they affect and change us, and what role we play in changing these spaces? To understand our own views on the world, to see our own truths, we must deconstruct the environments around us--be it, physical, psychological, or the emotional--that shape our perceptions and craft our identity.