Nicholas Papadakis is a Brooklyn-based artist currently exploring humankind’s relationship with Earth through an ongoing series of transparent sculptures & photographs entitled “Potentialities”. The artwork commission for Buck Hill Falls will be a transparent sculpture of a young artist in the act of creating a landscape portrait painting of the old Buck Hill Falls Inn.
The transparent figure will be using all transparent sculptural elements, including: paint brushes, palette, easel, smock, art supplies, and accessories to envision a transparent painting. The entire tableau will be installed in the middle of Paiste Pond such that the figure and easel appear to be standing on the surface of the water.
Papadakis creates transparent sculptures to explore the world of human constructs: objects, ideas, and events. Each artwork visualizes an aspect of the question: what is the value of human experience, and our manufactured lifestyles, as balanced against environmental impact?
These sculptures have a dual existence as photographs that capture singular moments within a site-specific installation.
“I patiently study the play of light and color refracting through the clear objects, I am in search of a transformative moment to photograph – one in which the tangible sculptures are rendered insubstantial and hallucinatory – one in which I can imagine the subject’s past, present, and future – from the ‘a-ha’ moment of inception to it’s faded memory.”
Each photograph becoming a timeless space for contemplating the impact that humans exert upon the natural world.
Exhibitions
2023 – Potentialities – Buck Hill Falls, PA
2023 – Recycle 2023 – BWAC, Brooklyn (Crtrs: John Cloud Kaiser & Renee Radenberg)
2020 – Silver Linings: Clouds in Art & Science – Museums For Laget, Norway
2019 – In The Clouds – University of Stavanger, Norway (Crtr: Vladimir Jankovic)
2018 – Every Day is Earth Day – 313 Butler Gallery, Brooklyn (Crtr: Jonathan Schorr)
2016 – ArtSlope – Prospect Park, Brooklyn (Crtr: NY Parks Dept)
Education
The Rhode Island School of Design – BFA Painting
Brown University – Holography
You can see more of Nicholas’ work on his website: nicholaspapadakisartist.com
