Nic Sanderson
Overview
“By inviting viewers to breathe life into fixed materials and see themselves as an extension of the sculptural form, I reimagine the relationship between artist, artwork and audience.” - Nic Sanderson
Mutating between imagery of the domestic, the decorative and the corporeal, Nic Sanderson’s works are immutable, strange and unique. Operating within an expanded definition of sculpture, one in which formal elements are as important as the sculpture’s relationship to the viewer, his practice is predicated on platforming other individuals and artists while prioritising the viewer’s holistic experience of the work.
While retaining their individual aesthetic value, his pieces often serve as stage sets, backdrops or plinths for the creations of another. In this way, he is able to champion a form of art practice that is not predicated on competitiveness or individualism. Instead, his work is based on genuine community engagement and the formation of mutually beneficial creative networks. He is deeply concerned with the creating tangible and immersive experiences for the viewer and has previously built entire bodies of work to host durational performative happenings.
Sanderson often returns to the notion of ‘Vivo to Vitro,’ drawn from the Latin ‘vivo’ meaning ‘within the living’ and ‘vitro’ meaning ‘within the glass’. He describes his work as deliberately adaptable, able to shift between the living state of ‘vivo’ and the sedentary state of ‘vitro’ when viewed by an audience or placed amongst other works. While being created in the studio, his sculptures feel alive and ever-changing, (viro) yet when displayed alone in a gallery they can become somewhat cold, still and distant (vitro). For him, the audience and the work of other artists are extensions of the sculptural form which prevent it from losing vitality – these elements bring the work back into a ‘viro’ state.
In this way, he reimagines the handcrafted object and the relationship between artist and audience, inviting participants to breathe life into fixed materials. His works are deliberately engaging and thought-provoking, welcoming the viewer to situate themselves in direct conversation with each piece and contemplate the boundaries between art objects and functional devices.
Biography
Nic Sanderson (b.1997, England) is an artist living and working in London. In 2017, he spent a year studying Installation at KASK Conservatorium, Royal Academy of Fine Arts, Ghent followed by completing a BA in Fine Art at Falmouth College of Art in 2019. In 2020, he was awarded the Jakob Kroon Gallery Recent Graduate Award and has presented two pervious solo exhibitions, Fearing Ignition yet Handling Ashes (Jakob Kroon Gallery, Worthing, 2020) and Vivo to Vitro (Incubator, London, 2021).
His work has been featured in group exhibitions with galleries such as: AMP Gallery, London (2022); Changing Room Gallery, London (2021); Studio 59, London (2021); The Radford Gallery, London (2021); Brooklyn Arts Hotel, Melbourne, Australia (2020); Koi Persyn, Sint-Denjis-Westrem, Belgium (2018); CAST, Helston (2018); The Fish Factory, Penryn, Cornwall (2018); Balkonscenes, Ghent, Belgium (2018); Bizar Hair, Ghent, Belgium (2017) and Samuel Basset, Bristol (2017).
He founded HOAF projects in 2021, an arts organisation that builds bridges between charities and artists through workshops, performances, and events. In such collaborative work, Sanderson emphasises the process as much as the product and conceives of his viewers as active participants. He is committed to fostering connections between artists and charities, and his work with HOAF projects is intrinsically tied to his studio practice with their common aim being to encourage community engagement.
Exhibitions
Works
