Chester, UK, 1955.
Lives and works between Porto Alegre, Brazil and London, UK.
Nick Rands was a Southern Arts – Brazil Exchange artist in 1992 and moved to Brazil in 1998. He moved back to London temporarily in 2007 and now divides his time between London and Porto Alegre.
“Um Quadrado no Rio Grande do Sul”. Duration: 13’10”
By Alexia Tala
“Adopting a somewhat unconventional approach, the work of art for Nick Rands develops out of a complex system of decision making. Numbers, footsteps, space-time patterns and directions are combined into the starting point for his paintings, photographs or installations. Although his work can be seen as an approach to the natural and urban environment, its artistic and almost scientific conceptualization involves a process that positions the artist as a tool in carrying out the devised system, developing an initial pattern whose final result is completely unknown, letting it develop until the resulting the work comes as a surprise. The system applied to the artist’s performative action in his experience of walking – based on mathematical principles or patterns of repetition – is often documented with photographs or drawings which are then superimposed in layers or animated in videos. Similarly, in his paintings – a process in which he also creates systems of order – Rands uses mud and his hands, expanding ideas of painting and exploring its possibilities. His work is not the result of conscious decisions, but rather of a self-imposed methodology that leads him to experiment with creation within himself”.
Education
-Fine Art, Reading University, Reading, UK.
-Art Education, Bristol University, Bristol, UK.
-Taught art in England and Botswana.
-Worked in Gallery Education in England.
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2011
-“Um quadrado no Rio Grande do Sul”, Museu de Arte de Santa Maria, Santa Maria, Brazil.
– “A gente”, Museu do Trabalho, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2009
-“ChromaLife”, Galeria Gestual, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2008
– “ChromaLife”, The Brickhouse, London, UK.
2007
– “Obras Fotográficas”, Galeria Gestual, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2005
– “…and still counting…”, Bermondsey Street Studio, London, UK.
– “…and still counting…” Galeria Gestual, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2004
– “Painting by Numbers”, Galeria Gestual, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2003
– “Where the sea meets the sky”, Fotogaleria, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2001
– “Mudworks”, Espaço Cultural Sergio Porto, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
– “Mudworks”, Fundação Cultural de Criciúma, Criciúma, Brazil.
– “Earthly Spheres”, The Winchester Gallery, Winchester, UK and touring.
– “Pinturas”, Galeria Sotero Cosme, Casa de Cultura Mario Quintana, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
– “Pinturas”, Fundação Cultural de Curitiba, Brazil.
1999
– “EyeLevels”, Galeria Iberê Camargo, Usina do Gasômetro, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
– “Esferas Terrestres”, Torreão, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
1996
– “Grizedale Forest Painting Residency”, Gallery in The Forest, Grizedale, Cumbria, UK.
1994-96
– “Line by Line”, the Southern Arts Touring Exhibition Service, UK.
Selected Group Exhibitions
2012
– “Des estuturas”, Fundação Vera Chaves Barcellos, Viamão, Brazil.
2011
– “Cadernos de Viagem”, 8th Mercosul Biennial, Porto Alegre Brazil.
2010
– “Silêncios e Sussuros”, Fundação Vera Chaves Barcellos, Viamão, Brazil.
– “Digital Graffiti”, Alys Beach, Florida, USA.
– DIGIT 2010, Narrowsburg, New York, USA.
2006
– “Um olhar fotográfico”, Fundação Vera Chaves Barcellos, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
2004
– “Heterodoxia”, MASC Florianópolis, Florianopolis, Brazil
2003
– “1+1+1”, Museu da Gravura, Bagé, Brazil and Galeria Gestual, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
– III Salão National de Arte de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil.
– 24º Salão de Arte de Riberão Preto, Riberão Preto, Brazil.
2002
– III Salão de Porto Alegre, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
– II Salão Nacional de Arte de Goiás, Goiânia, Brazil.
– II Salão de Arte UNI-BH, Belo Horizonte, Brazil.
2000
– II Salão de Porto Alegre, Usina do Gasômetro, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
– “Chart”, Angel Row Gallery, Nottingham, UK.
1999
– “Coletiva, Obra Aberta”, Galeria Chaves, Porto Alegre, Brazil.
– “The Space of the Page”, Henry Moore Institute, Leeds, UK.
1996 – 1997
– “Repetition”, The Southern Arts Touring Exhibition Service, England, Italy and Belgium.
