R. Henry Nigl

Born 1944, Saginaw, Michigan, USA


Line and color permeate everything.

The American artist Brice Marden once observed that emphasizing the horizontal aspect of a painting represented a landscape and the vertical emphasis, a figure. I guess I bought into that argument and my work reflects this fundamental proportion based concept.

Sensory phenomenon are an enigma for me. Ordinary events: shadow, light, movement, that I experience and interpret as part of a constantly changing mental, visual and physical environment, sometimes seem out of context with expected reality--just plain wierd. I interpret commonplace events and forms as beautiful and profound. The broad, flat farm fields of the midwest, I think, were among the first ordinary vistas to impact my senses in this extraordinary way. It is, however, an interpretation that has served me well. I desire to share it with others, in art--perhaps if only to verify my own reality, my own sanity.

Education
German Language Coursework, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan
Psychology/Philosophy, Central Michigan University, Mt. Pleasant, Michigan
Design/Painting/Art History, Delta College, University Center, Michigan

Grants/Awards
Portland Advertising Club, Three Broderson Awards for Excellence in Creative
Advertising and Graphic Design

Solo Shows
Nudes Over Waterville Rail Road Square Cinema, Waterville, Maine
Retrospective/One-Man Show, Delta College Galleria, Delta College,University Center, Michigan
One-Man Show, Private Exhibit, Burned-Out by the Riots, Installation in a
Fire-Gutted Drug Store, Detroit, Michigan

Group Shows
World Trade Center Memorial Proposal, Lower Manhattan Development Authority, New York, New York
Group Show, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Waterville, Maine
Group Show, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Bern Porter's Residence,Belfast, Maine
Patten Free Library, Performance/Poetry, Bath, Maine
Gulf of Maine Books, Performance/Poetry, Brunswick, Maine
Annual Show, Union of Maine Visual Artists, Portland, Maine
Union of Maine Visual Artists Show, O'Farrell Gallery, Brunswick, Maine
Maine Biennial, University of Southern Maine, Gorh...