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"Lara Nickel; A horsey set" by Michael Abatemarco, Santa Fe New Mexican, 2016


Lara calls her practice installation-based painting. She paints detailed compositions of flora and fauna such as prickly pears, zebras, jaguars, and horses but with references to art history that nudge her work into the conceptual realm [....] Lara’s paintings rest perpendicular to the wall rather than hanging flat, forcing a more dynamic interaction for the viewer.

Art in Review: "30 Under 30: The Next Generation" by Iris McLister, Santa Fe New Mexican, 2015


Lara Nickel’s oil painting Giant Prickly Pear is more than seven feet wide, its mammoth proportions exaggerated by an unusual display. Propped against a right angle in a corner of the gallery, it seems to pop out from the walls behind it. one of the show’s more established artists. Giant Prickly Pear is technically superb, and the vivid green, richly textured surface looks brightly modern against a stark white background.

Critical Reflection; "UTILITIES" by Hannah Hoel, THE Magazine, 2015


Lara Nickel's Siena Bricks are foreign, carefully cordoned off, and very clean. Her stretched canvases, each measuring 12.25" x 2.75", lying on the floor and arranged in a herringbone pattern, emulate the bricks found at Piazza del Campo in Siena, Italy. They are the most recognizable objects in Utilities and cite something incredibly utilitarian - medeval infrastructure. Unlike Carl Andre's floor pieces, Siena Bricks are for conceptual inspection only, thier astutue crispness referencing minimalism as opposed to the soles of billions of pedestrians and horseshoes.




1 2    H O R S E S



1 2    H O R S E S


I consider myself a painter, though I would use the phrase "installation-based painter". Half of the meaning of my paintings/drawings comes from the way they are installed and interact with a space. Without this installation side to my work my paintings/drawings would be boring - they would become simply portraits of the subject. I do not consider myself an installation artist however, as I am working to change the way people interact specifically with painting and drawing.

My work is about how the physical space of the viewer interacts with the pictorial space of a painting.


My subjects (often objects, plants and animals) are representational, life size and have white backgrounds which mimic and emphasize the “neutral” gallery or museum wall. As a result, the subject of the painting is pushed forward into the room, making the room itself the setting of the painting, and making the painting act more as an object.


I am interested in the long tradition of illusionistic painting and the different ways to play with the obstacles and limitations this tradition presents; specifically how to keep painting from becoming simply decoration and the wall simply a place to decorate.

I am interested in using realism as a way to explore the sculptural qualities in painting- specifically how paintings exist in the viewer's physical space as well as how paintings exist in their own pictorial world. 

The unusual display of the paintings is intentional, the neutral white background is intentional, the subject being life-size and realistic is intentional- all to emphasize the contrast between the pictorial qualities of painting and the object-like qualities of painting. 

D U S T   I N   A   C O R N E R

This is a single 2in x 2in oil painting, depicting dust on the surface of a canvas.  It is unframed and is displayed flat on the floor, fitted into a corner. 


Dust in a Corner has been documented since 2008 in a wide range of museums, historical sites, and cities which include Versailles, the streets of Rome and New York, guerilla-style at the Metropolitan, and an authorized photography shoot at the Hirshhorn.






