Nicholas Blowers was born in Essex, UK in 1972. He obtained his Bachelor of Fine Art at Southampton university between 1991 – 1994.
His realist paintings celebrate collapse and decay within the natural environment with a focus on anomalies in the landscape - places out of place such as mine tailings ponds, drowned forests and Edgelands. Blower's compositions depict dense arrangements of nature and there is often an unruliness and sense of melancholy in his painting.
“There is a busy, chaotic feel to my work; a world of debris and clutter that one often finds in the Australian landscape. I search for places that have a heightened sense of drama and I’m interested in certain subjects because of their unruliness and anarchic structural elements. As a painter the subject’s primary meaning lies in paint, so my interest in decay and decrepitude is first and foremost painterly; it’s about form, texture, pattern and the connectedness of things.”
His first solo show was held at the Dickerson gallery in Sydney in 2005 and since then he has had solo exhibitions in Sydney, Melbourne , Hobart and the UK. His work has been included in mixed exhibitions and art prizes in Australia and abroad including recently at the Wynne prize & S H Ervin gallery.
Blower's work is held in corporate and private collections in Australia and abroad. He has been featured in articles in the guardian and most recently the weekend Age.
He lives and works in Hobart and Yorkshire.
Education
1991-1994 Southampton Institute, UK/ BA Honours Fine Art
1989-1991 Braintree college, UK/ BTEC Art & Design
Solo Exhibitions
2023 Recent Paintings, Nanda Hobbs Gallery, Sydney 2019 Pond Requiem, Nanda Hobbs Gallery, Sydney 2017 Deadwood Shallows, Nanda Hobbs Gallery, Sydney
2015 Savage River, Nanda Hobbs Gallery, Sydney
2013 Edgeland, Bett Gallery, Hobart
2012 Ephemera, Mick Gallery,Sydney
2012 New paintings, Bett Gallery, Hobart
2009 Rivulet, Boutwell Draper, Sydney
2008 Narcissus, Dickerson Gallery, Sydney
2007 New Paintings, Dickerson Gallery, Melborne
2006 Recent Works, Dickerson Gallery, Sydney
2006 Recent Works, Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne
2003 Coastline Figures, FX Art & Framing, Sydney
Selected Group Shows
2022 A Show Of Strength, Bett Gallery, Hobart 2022 Melbourne Art Fair 2021 Tree of life, S H Ervin Gallery, Sydney 2020 New works on paper, Nanda Hobbs Gallery, Sydney 2019 Landscape Obscura, Nanda Hobbs Gallery, Sydney 2017 Group show, Nanda Hobbs Gallery, Sydney 2011 Group Show, Mick Gallery, Sydney
2009 Regrowth, Bett gallery, Hobart
2008 Group show, Boutwell Draper gallery, Sydney
2007 Land, Sea & Sky, Dickerson Gallery, Sydney
2007 Art Melbourne 07, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
2007 Land, Sea & Sky, Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne
2006 Black & White, Dickerson Gallery, Sydney
2006 Art Melbourne 06, Royal Exhibition Building, Melbourne
2005 Gallery Artists, Dickerson gallery, Sydney
2005 Off the Wall, Art Sydney 05
Prizes
2021 Hadleys Prize, Hobart, Tasmania 2020 Wynne Prize, NSW Gallery 2018 Glover Art Prize, (Highly commended & Peoples choice) 2016 Clover Art Prize, (Highly commended & Peoples choice)
2015 Glover Art prize
2014 Paul Guest Prize
2014 Paddington Art Prize
2014 JADA Drawing Award
2014 Bay Of Fires Art Prize
2013 Hutchins Art Prize
2013 Adelaide Perry Drawing prize, Sydney
2012 Glover Art Prize
2011 Hobart City Art Prize
2011 Waterhouse Natural History Prize (Highly commended)
2011 Glover Art Prize
2010 Kedumba Drawing Award
2010 Glover Art Prize
2009 Paddington Art Prize (winner)
2009 Glover Art Prize
2008 Fleurieu Art Prize
2008 Glover Art Prize
2007 Paddington Art Prize (winner)
2007 Kings School Art Prize (winner)
2007 Waterhouse Natural History Art Prize, Adelaide Museum (short-listed, Highly commended)
2006 Doug Moran Portrait Prize, Mitchell Library (short-listed)
2005 Archibald Prize Salon de Refuses Finalist, S.H.Ervin Gallery
2005 54th Blake Prize, Sir Hermann Black Gallery (short-listed)
2005 Art on the Rocks, Sydney
Private Collections
Artbank
Macquarie Bank
KPMG
Newcastle Regional Gallery
Publications
2021 Sydney Morning Herald, John McDonald, May 7th 2017 Andrew Frost, Guardian, 9th September, 2017
2017 Island magazine, Unstable landscapes
2011 Art Collector, What Now, Issue 58
2008 Studio international June 2008
2007 Belle magazine, April/May “Rising Stars”
2007 The Saturday Age, March 24th, Megan Blackhouse
2007 Preview, The Age, March 18th, Penny Webb
2005 Australian House & Garden, December 2006
2005 “The art of the matter”, Judy Ostergaard
2005 Australian Art Collector, Smart Art, Issue 37, July – September, Carrie Lumby
Nicholas Blowers is represented by Nanda Hobbs gallery, Sydney & Bett gallery, Hobart