Vasiliev Nini

I am Vasiliev “Vas” Nini, an Albanian-born American artist based in Columbus, Ohio. Educated in monumental sculpture at the Academy of Arts in Tirana, I work primarily in marble and stone and maintain an active practice in painting and drawing. My approach is direct: I carve from the block and refine each surface by hand, allowing the character of the material, its veining, weight, and capacity for light, to guide proportion and form.

My work ranges from public commissions to intimate studio pieces and has been exhibited in Europe and the United States. It is represented in both public settings and private collections, including Battery Park in New York City and the private collection of the Queen of the Netherlands. Across media and scale, I pursue essential shapes, curves, voids, and interlocking volumes, that invite sustained looking and reward the slow changes of natural light.

Craft and clarity are central to my practice. I aim for works that feel inevitable rather than invented: disciplined in construction, honest to their materials, and open to the viewer’s interpretation. Whether carving stone, drawing, or painting, the studio remains a place of steady rigor, where each piece is built to endure in both substance and prese...

BA/MA in Monumental Sculpture — Academy of Arts, Tirana, graduating with distinction; focus on public-art scale, structural composition, and direct carving.

Selected Exhibitions — Recent

2025 — Solo Exhibition, Priscilla R. Tyson Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, OH

2024 — Solo Exhibition, Personal Studio/Gallery, 700 Bryden Rd, Columbus, OH

2019 — Solo Exhibition, Personal Studio/Gallery, 700 Bryden Rd, Columbus, OH

2018 — Solo Exhibition, Personal Studio/Gallery, 700 Bryden Rd, Columbus, OH

2016 — Group Exhibition, Priscilla R. Tyson Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, OH

2015 — Group Exhibition, Priscilla R. Tyson Cultural Arts Center, Columbus, OH