Nick Alm, Painter, Winner of TIAC Art Prize 2018
This year The International Arts & Culture Group has been invited by Art Renewal Center to be part of Art Renewal Center’s 13th International ARC Salon Competition. to introduce and give the TIAC Art Prize. The winners were the painter Nick Alm for his painting Ruset and the sculpters Coderch & Malavia Sculptors for the piece The Tissue of Time. The winners where selected by the leading members of TIAC, the artists Lynn Guo, Qin Chuan, Scott Breton, Zhang Meng , and Shi Yu Liu.
“We chose a painting and a sculpture that we felt exemplified the integration of fluent and powerful technical means with a theme that could resonate with a contemporary audience, and produce an iconic image, aesthetically and thematically.”
We've asked the artists to talk about themselves to present them to our community.
Today is Nick Alm's turn.
Who is Nick Alm?
Born 1985. Living in Stockholm.
How did your love for art begin and why?
I’ve always been into drawing for as long as I can remember. Why? We're all born with inclinations. Visiting the Gothenburg Museum had a big impact on me and encouraged me to start painting in oil.
Why painting? What makes this particular medium special to you?
The brushstrokes and the texture foremost. Also, the medium gives you both freedom and control.
Which have been the most satisfying moments of your career and why?
I´ve got no particular moment, but all awards have been welcomed. Selling out my first solo show was also a blast.
On the other hand, the toughest struggles?
Poor painting days. Also I had a back injury that tortured me for almost a year.
Where does your inspiration come from?
From an accumulated memory bank, sometimes in alliance with new impressions.
It´s a process that usually is hard to put words on.
How is your creative process? What do you enjoy most? What less?
The creative process varies, but it mainly involves small thumbnail sketches with pencil and paper and experiments in photoshop.
The first vision is quite a dopamine kick, and seeing the picture come to life has some magic in it. It´s rarely a walk in the park though. I often get stuck with the composition, not knowing how to solve the problem. However, it´s worse to discover a problem once the picture is already painted.
Your paintings depict scenes of what it could be interpret as a Dionysian feast, full of characters and stories, could you tell us more about this?
My appreciation for the theme has little to do with the mythology, but the theme is so full of potential. That´s why I´m drawn to it.
"Ruset" was TIAC's favorite this year. Could you talk about it?
While working with a model for another painting she all of a sudden stroke this expressive pose, a pose that was telling a story. I placed her in a somewhat undefined restaurant in an unspecific time. More models were then brought in, one at the time, to add interest and context. The composition was most of the time a consuming part of the process. Painting took approximately between 1-2 weeks, but the process from the idea to the finished product took about two years. Though most of the surrounding is imaginative, one of the paintings in the background is a part of an album cover by Slayer.
Ruset
2017
95 x 115 cm | 37 1/4 x 45 1/4 in
Oil on canvas
Trying to imagine a parallel reality, who would Nick Alm be without Art?
Maybe a musician. I would have to channel the creativity somehow.
If you knew that thanks to your Art you have the power to change something in the world, what would you change?
Peoples sense of aesthetics.
Any particular message you'd like to leave us?
Thank you!
