Fine Art Fridays: Nick Georgiou
[See "Update" at the end of this post to see what Nick has been up to this summer!]
This is a really fun story, and it starts at my wedding in 2009. My husband and I were married in Tucson, AZ at Tohono Chul Park. Each year the park hosts a holiday lights event where they put thousands of lights on their plants and trees and invite the city to come and enjoy the park at night. The year we were married they offered weddings at their park during the time the lights were up. We were married on new years eve 2009 with all the beautiful lights at the Tohono Chul Park. Then our cake cutting and other traditional ceremonies were held in the art studio of the park. Our reception was at the Westward LookResort but that is an entirely different story to tell!
Fast forward to our one-year anniversary in 2010 and we were yet again at Tohono Chul park enjoying the Christmas lights. We went into the art gallery to get warm and see what art was on display and there hanging on the wall in their art gallery were these pieces of art. (These two pictures are the actual photographs I took from the show)
WOW—I’ll never forget the moment I saw that cactus and owl!
The art was something I had never seen before and by an artist living in Tucson. The artist is Nick Georgiou and he came to Tucson via New York in association with the University of Arizona. I immediately thought that since my husband and I had our one year anniversary coming up (the paper anniversary) and these unique pieces of art were made from recycled books and newspapers, that I would contact the artist and see if he had anything available for purchase. What a cool gift that would be to a husband who has greatly supported my love of the arts.
I contacted Nick Georgiou and was able to visit his studio and pick out something I liked–a still life of flowers in a vase. I gave the art to my husband for our anniversary and he loved it. It is still one of our most favorite pieces of art.
I’ve looked at Nick’s art hanging at my house hundreds of times and wondered why it is that I like it so much. One reason is because he reminds me of Vincent Van Gogh only in more of a 3D aspect. Van Gogh is my ALL TIME favorite artist. So there is something about Nick’s work that is similar to Van Gogh; so rich, textured and “juicy” but yet different and extremely unique. Nick is obviously his own artist but I would imagine that had I seen a Van Gogh for the first time the way I did Nick’s work I would have had the same response!
Recently I was lucky enough to meet Nick again and see his studio for the second time. This time I got to take my daughter to see all of his fantastic work. Nick is so approachable and “real.” He let Presley touch his famous dog like creature and we had wonderfully rich art conversations. He is passionate about the reasons why he creates his art.
Nick is now showing his art in a New York gallery called the Opera Gallery and is showing with artists like Andy Warhol and Keith Haring (uh, no wonder we like him so much!). I feel so fortunate to have met him (twice) and to have his beautiful artwork in my home.
If you ever get a chance to see some of his work in real life – take it! You will not be disappointed. If you like his work consider following his blog. He’s extremely nice, smart and talented and I’m sure you are going to see a lot from him in the future!
Here are a few more photographs from his Tumblr page!
UPDATE: Nick has apparently been hard at work this summer on a storefront display for the Hermes store on Madison Avenue in NYC. The display looks amazing! To see for yourself, visit his new Instagram page!