Create! is thrilled to share the announcement of Brooklyn-based artist Nicolas Holiber's exhibition Shape-Shifter at Unit London! Renowned for his large-scale mixed-media work, the artist blurs the line between paint and sculpture .‍

Holiber’s new body of work presents a collection of large and small scale impasto-style paintings bringing a fresh and fluid sense of ethereal motion. In Shape-Shifter, the artist delivers a heightened level of emotional intensity, painting his subjects as fleshy, warped, and open masses, revealing the complicated intricacy behind the human facade. Shape-Shifter opens April 26, 2022 at Unit London and will run until May 28,2022.

Image description: A highly textured painting of a person with long black hair and a multi-colored face by Nicolas Holiber.

This show marks the first time Holiber works from life; drawing inspiration from Francis Bacon’s iconic portraiture, we find some of his close friends and the artist himself as subjects - their facial features consumed by voluptuous brushes of vibrant colors stemming from his intuitive process of composition.

Like a Shape-Shifter, the works move and transform simultaneously in a batter of expressions both terrifying and pleasing. These new pieces invite us to look beyond superficial aesthetics to get a peek into raw human emotion, asking us how willing we are to look beyond someone or something at face value in order to reach alternate perspectives and find a new sense of reconciliation.

Image description: A highly textured painting of a woman with red hair and a black shirt by Nicolas Holiber.

About the artist: Born in 1985 in New York, Nicolas Holiber grew up in a creative family and has been making pictures and objects since he was a child. Past awards and honors include public commissions for the Southern Branch of the National Palace Museum in Taiwan, NYC Parks Department, residencies at the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and Leipzig International Art Programme among others. In 2020 Holiber had a solo online exhibition with Unit London's Platform. Holiber has exhibited work throughout the USA and Europe.

About the gallery: Since the gallery's inception in September 2013, Unit London has established itself as a global artistic platform for the world’s most distinctive talent. In an often opaque and unaccommodating art market, Unit London has sought to identify, cultivate and expose works of art on a meritocratic basis. The gallery has successfully launched and advanced the careers of numerous important contemporary artists and remains firmly committed to its driving principles of equity, innovation and accessibility.

Image description: A highly textured painting of a man with bluish hair wearing a black hoodie by Nicolas Holiber.
Image description: A close up look at a painting of a face by Nicolas Holiber. The painting is highly textured and various colors.
Image description: A highly textured painting of a person's face by Nicolas Holiber. The face is highly abstracted and textured.
Image description: A highly textured painting of a person with a highly abstracted face by Nicolas Holiber. The background is light blue with red flowers.
Image description: A highly textured abstracted painting that is largely blue, yellow, and green by Nicolas Holiber.
Image description: A close up look at a painting of a face by Nicolas Holiber. The painting is highly textured and various colors.

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