Interview
Nicholas Peter Bartlett
Having lived and worked in London, France, Portugal, Brazil and the US, Nicholas now lives between the UK and Portugal. He continues to work on an international scale and spends half his time exploring, learning and experiencing the world, the other half developing what he has experienced at his home studios.
Nicholas works in multiple disciplines: painting, sculpture, photography, landscape art, architectural art, set design and public art, gaining a balance from the opposing forces each one wields. His interest in art began at a very young age in the creation of images of the natural world and fantasy environments. The ability to create versions of the real world through art captivated him.
Nick is an innately conceptual artist with the ability to see his wildest ideas through to reality. His vision is proving boundless as he moves from painting and sculpture to complex set design. Within his latest Studio NPB88, Nick exhibits his varied work as an Artist and Designer.
Creating intricately immersive worlds for guests to enter for the day, night or week, Nick’s work allows a rare and beautiful escape, often leaving you feeling like you have fallen headfirst into a dream. All the while, being acutely aware that the urban streets surround you, but too far from them to care. Offering this kind of escape is where the entertainment world is coming to, and Nick is at the forefront of the movement. He possesses the kind of big thinking that is transforming the experiential scene into an embodied experience.
Heavily inspired by the surrounding scenery, the shapes, movement and detail within his work leave you wanting for nothing as the set becomes enchanted. With credible sources of training, from degrees in Fine Art, and Arts and Events Production from the AUB, Nick is continuing to prove himself as a pioneer in conceptual design. There is an endless breadth to his growing portfolio that shows his unlimited vision, as he works with reputable global clients both in the music and arts festivals, household brand names and private clients.
Nicholas, working as creative director and lead designer and commissioned artist, is proving to be a powerhouse of creativity of which Secret Garden Party and Lovebox was a yearly reminder of. Nick is offering an intrinsically perceptive and playful view of the world. His paintings and photography serve to show his thoughtful contemplation that later makes way for the combustion of energy thrown into his set design. Throwing himself, and all who’ll join him, into new worlds through innovative design. His work has been shown throughout the world, in over 20 solo and combined exhibitions in the last 21 years, and commissions from the Arts Council of England and competition-winning entries for the LAGI design competition.
Nicholas will have a new solo show launching on the 30th of April 2022. The show will be a combination of paintings, photography, prints, sculpture, fashion line and an NFT collection.
What is your background and how did you start your journey in the art world?
“I studied art at school, college and then at university up to the age of 26, starting with a broad spectrum of disciplines and moving further towards the world of fine art. I then started creating solo exhibitions in my home town on the south coast of the UK. After a few of these exhibitions, I realized I really enjoyed the creation of the opening night and this became another blank canvas for me.
I returned to university after a couple of years living in Brazil, France and the US, to start a second degree in Arts and Event Production. This gave me a wonderful foundation of the practical side of organizing art events with a deep and talented network pool. I spent the next few years working with music and art festivals, trying a variety of hands-on jobs, from carpentry to metalwork to production and management. I began by designing elements of the festivals from décor to stages to bars to touring brands, working my way to building my business and my reputation. I had some great clients contracting me to design and build wonderful creations in temporary structures, sculptures, art direction and some commissions for large scale sculptures from the Arts Council of England.
It was at this point I wanted to revisit my personal art practice and create a new solo show in Hoxton, London. It was a combination of paintings, sculpture and photography installations. This became the place to express myself - the thoughts I had about the world around me. To understand my experiences and find a way to communicate in full. Since then, I have had a variety of solo and combined shows, with publications and design awards. Now I feel I sit in an interesting stage of defining my art practice by the motivation to communicate rather than a fixed style or medium.”
What inspires you?
“Life inspires me. Understanding how the external world affects the internal world and then how that in turn drives the external world through our actions. I really love balance, it brings me peace. Nature has been hallowed ground for me in this case. I think it's because from an early age I have been surfing. It's really an experience where you are fully embedded into the environment, in the present as much as your mind will let you.
That is my special power, to be able to create a version of the future in full detail in my mind and then work out how to get there. There is something quite magical about that sense of reaching through time. Because of this I really love physics, especially when it gets weird, like the true concept of time. How the universe really operates as well as the world on the quantum level.”
“Removing the barrier between the real world and our inner world delivers us connectivity through emotive responses.”
What themes do you pursue? Is there an underlying message in your work?
“When I try to understand the pursuit of my art practice I always come back to the Taoist principles of relationships and pathfinding. I aim to investigate the inner and outer worlds of our minds and emotions and their back and forth relationships with our environments. Through color, emotive gestures and metaphors within symbols, I hope to tell the start of a narrative of the world as I see it. Asking those who experience my work to at first join me, then travel on continuing the narrative with their own experience of the world.”
How would you describe your work?
“My work doesn't have a physical style, it doesn't have a way to put it into a box that describes it for someone to find it later. I often pause on this and worry that people may get confused with who I am, or not take me seriously if one painting is not recognizable with the next. To be honest, I really love the free expression and excitement of learning to use a new medium to express a new thought.
This is the reason I called my company npb88. The 88 comes from a feeling that I needed something to link all my work together, something tangible. So I created an ongoing thesis that I could prove or disprove in an infinity of ways: "there are 88 types of human beings". I chose the number 88 because it was the speed the DeLorean had to achieve in order to travel in time in the Back To The Future movies. So now I have a thread that ties my work together. I can sleep at night now.”
What is your creative process like?
“Normally the first spark is an external influence. Maybe a conversation with a friend, maybe a brief from a client, maybe a physical experience. This spark ignites the fuel I have been subconsciously storing inside me for the last while. It ripples through me like the lost key to a new world, or suddenly being able to understand a new language instantaneously. I then develop these new ideas with trusted friends and within my own head, creating a way to express a message or story.
Then this is worked through with a sketchbook, extrapolating my inner thoughts and helping me refine the story, guiding the scale and what materials to use as well as how to present it finally to the world. Then I would either start creative drawings in 3D on the computer and look for specialist collaborations for the making process, or if it's a painting, I would start to sketch out and experiment with colors on a canvas. Then it's a process of refining, experimenting and allowing continuous change and influence to guide me to the final work.”
What is an artist’s role in society and how do you see that evolving?
“Their role is to open people up to be able to connect, understand, change and move on. Their role is also to express, through a moment of caught in time, how the world is, and communicate that feeling through time and space whenever or wherever the work is experienced in the future. I don't think that essence evolves. I believe it's the motivation of the sponsor of art that evolves with whatever current political, or social drive we have and the artist buys into. Art is the eternal fruit tree that is plucked and used to make whatever the particular pie of the day is.”
Which artists influence you most?
“I find it's usually more a piece of art or design that influences me more than a particular artist. For example the Sergarda Familia in Barcelona. My last show in Lisbon was heavily influenced by Andy Warhol, but I would not say he influenced me more than at that moment. I love Miro, Picasso, Turner and Piet Mondrian for various reasons and to complete a bigger picture. Moments of understanding and connection through space and time is more of the influence I look for in works of art.”
Have you had any noteworthy exhibitions you'd like to share?
“- Stillness in Motion, London Hoxton
- Contemplation Tower - Arts Council of England commission
- Portraits in 2020 - solo exhibition in Lisbon
- Choose love - print club exhibition London
Website: www.npb88.co.uk
Instagram: @npb88_
