Nicole Gordon

Installation view of Nicole Gordon's "magnified," 2016
Installation view of Nicole Gordon's "magnified," 2016
Installation view of Nicole Gordon's "magnified," 2016
Getting Back on Track / 2015 / oil on canvas / 60" x 80" / SOLD
Finishing Touches / 2015 / oil on canvas / 60" x 80" / SOLD
Plugged In / 2015 / oil on canvas / 40" x 60" / $7,000
Rainbow is Not a Color / 2015 / oil on canvas / 40" x 60" / $7,000
Why is Parallel Parking So Difficult? / 2015 / oil on canvas / 60" x 52" / SOLD
Who Left the Kettle On? / 2016 / oil on canvas / 60" x 60" / SOLD
Stop the Ride - I Want to Get Off / 2015 / oil on canvas / 52" x 60" / $10,000
How to Harness the Power of Your Inner Rowboat / 2014 / Oil on canvas / 52" x 60" / $8,500
Curiosity often leads to trouble / 2014 / oil on canvas / 60" x 40" / $7,000
The Problem with Winning / 2014 / gouache on mylar / 11.5" x 9.25"
Flotsam / 2014 / oil on canvas / 60" x 48" / $7,000
Womb / 2012 / oil on canvas / 60" x 48" / PLS INQ
Static / 2012 / charcoal and pencil on mylar / 24" x 30" / PLS INQ
Deer Head Chandelier / 2011 / mixed media / 48" x 31" x 20" / $13,000
Deer Head Mirror / 2011 / mixed media / 41" x 29" / $3,800
Study for Asylum Cathedral / 2011 / pen and ink on mylar / 32.5" x 44.5" / $4,200
Gilded Chair / 2011 / mixed media / 36" x 48" x 48" / $5,200
Penguin Altar / 2011 / charcoal on vellum / 19" x 16" framed / $1,800
Deer Head Chandelier Sketch / 2011 / oil and gold leaf on mylar / 27.5" x 21.5" / $3,600
Goodbye Cruel World - I'm Off to Join the Circus / 2008 / oil on four canvases / 108" x 96" / $20,000
Galveston's Rusty Energy Empire Debased / 2007 / oil on canvas / 48" x 72" / $8,000
Gomorrah's Lumberjack Unearthing the Threads of Nature's Yarn / 2007 / oil on canvas / 48" x 72" / $8,000
Living Under Sodom's Terrain / 2007 / oil on canvas / 48" x 72" / $8,000
Pharaoh's Rampant Indulgence Damns Egypt / 2007 / oil on canvas / 48" x 72" / $8,000
The Culmination / 2007 / oil on canvas / 48" x 72" / $8,000
The Culmination / 2006 / charcoal and pencil on mylar / 24" x 36" / $3,000
Beauty Rest / 2006 / oil on 4 panels with mixed media installation / 94" x 72" / $14,000
Envy / 2006 / charcoal and pencil on mylar / 24" x 36" / $3,000
Gluttony / 2006 / charcoal and pencil on mylar / 24" x 36" / $3,000
Lust / 2006 / charcoal and pencil on mylar / 24" x 36" / $3,000
Pride / 2006 / charcoal and pencil on mylar / 24" x 36" / $3,000
Sloth / 2006 / charcoal and pencil on mylar / 24" x 36" / $3,000
What Happens Here Stays Here / 2005 / oil and beeswax on 4 panels / 48" x 130" / $25,000
Triumph of Death / 2005 / oil and beeswax on canvas / 48" x 60" / $7,500
Tailgate / 2005 / oil and beeswax on panel / 40" x 30" / $4,800
Headlong / 2004 / oil and beeswax on panel with mixed-media installation / 55" x 46" / $7,500
The Shortening Days / 2003 / oil and beeswax on canvas / 55" x 46" / $7,500
Tap City and Gardena Miracle / 2003 / (diptych) oil and beeswax on panel / 60" x 40" / $8,000 or $4,000 each
Blue Morning / 2002 / oil and beeswax on panel / 50" x 40" / $5,000
No More Absolutes / 2002 / oil and beeswax on panel / 55" x 46" / $7,500
The Overlook / 2007 / oil on 4 panels with mixed media installation / 96" x 77" / $14,000

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2016
Linda Warren Projects, magnified, Chicago, IL

2015
Angela Meleca Gallery, Reoriented, Columbus, OH
Lois Lambert Gallery, Things No One Told You About, Santa Monica, CA

2011
Linda Warren Gallery, Asylum, Chicago, IL

2009
Linda Warren Gallery, Saligia, Chicago, IL
Cultural Center of Chicago, Stateless, Chicago, IL
Lois Lambert Gallery, Santa Monica, CA

2008
Elmhurst Art Museum, Unifying Themes, Elmhurst, IL

2007
Miller Block Gallery, 8 Deadly Sins, Boston, MA

2006
University of Michigan, Lane Hall, Ann Arbor, MI
Kohler Art Center, Middle America, Sheboygan, WI

2005
Peter Miller Gallery, Airs and Graces, Chicago, IL

2003
Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago, IL

2002
Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago, IL

2001
Melanee Cooper Gallery, Chicago, IL
Contemporary Art Workshop, Chicago, IL

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2015
Gallery Project, Wish List, Toledo, OH / Ann Arbor, MI
Linda Warren Projects, Roots, Chicago, IL
Ann Arbor Art Center, Allegorical Space, Ann Arbor, MI
Noyes Cultural Arts Center, Evanston IL

2013
Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Magical Realism, Michigan City, IN

2012
NIU Art Museum, Vice and Virtue, DeKalb, IL
Lubeznik Center for the Arts, Iconoclastic, Michigan City, IN
Lois Lambert Gallery, Bring a Friend, Santa Monica, CA
Michael Rosenthal Gallery, Active, San Francisco, CA

2010
Gallery Project, Unhooked from Time, Ann Arbor, MI
Co-Prosperity Sphere, Flesh and Bone, Chicago IL
Artropolis Chicago, Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago, IL
Gallery Project, Mind, Ann Arbor, MI
Gallery Project, Imaging the Future, Ann Arbor, MI
Lois Lambert Gallery, The Group 2010, Santa Monica, CA

2009
Artropolis Chicago, Linda Warren Gallery, Chicago IL

2008
Gallery Project, Painting 2008, Ann Arbor, MI
The Lab at Belmar, Failure, Lakewood, CO

2007
Soap Factory, This Mango is Now an ipod, Minneapolis, MN
Evanston Art Center, Works on Paper, Evanston, IL

2006
Miller Block Gallery, An Exhibition of Artists Concerned about Our Environment, Boston, MA

2005
Spaces Gallery, Topographic, Cleveland, OH
West Washington University, Meticulum, Bellingham, WA

2003
Art Chicago project space, Chicago, IL

2002
Rockford Museum of Art, Midwest Biennial, Rockford, IL

2001
Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL
Barrington Area Arts Council, Barrington, IL

PUBLICATIONS

2013
Knapp, Gottfried and Bernhard Graf, “Franz Mayer of Munich: Architecture, Glass, Art”, page 128
Stodola, Barbara, “Artists Doing Their Iconoclastic Things”, The Beacher, volume 29, January 17

2012
Urban Confustions, volume 3
Rooney, Ashley, “One Hundred Midwest Artists
Gilbert, Cat, The 22 Magazine, volume 3

2010
Sideshow Fables, second edition, cover art

2009
Westin, Monica, New City, April 20
Bellas, Benjamin, Daily Serving, October 5

2008
Gomez, Edward M., “Minneapolis Modern”, Art and Antiques, April

2007
McQuaid, Cate, “Shades of Hades”, Boston Globe, April 5

2006
New American Paintings, Midwest edition, Open Studios Press

2005
Lopez, Ruth, Time Out Chicago, April 14
Camper, Fred, “Boundary Breaker”, Chicago Reader, April 8
Klein, Paul, “Art Letter”, March 17

2003
Cassidy, Victor M., “Prairie Smoke”, ArtNet, April 4
Hawkins, Margaret, “30 and Below”, Chicago Sun Times, March 9
Artner, Alan, Chicago Tribune, January 31

PUBLIC ART

2005
Exterior façade artwork commission for New England Biolabs, Beverly, MA

2004
Public Art commission for CTA, sponsored by the Chicago Public Art Group

EDUCATION

1998 B.F.A. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI

Lorenzo DiMedici University, Florence, Italy


In this new series of paintings each timeless setting has been infiltrated by imagery that represents the chaos that invades the quiet space that we long for. The heightened colors and out-of-place objects create absurd and sometimes disturbing stage-like scenes that cannot possibly exist in nature and become an alternate reality. The landscapes reference fairy tale settings in which complex and often disturbing narratives are revealed within a context of dreamlike prettiness. The disturbance to the serenity animates the setting and breathes new life into the space, highlighting the tension between the artificial and the real.

-Nicole Gordon