Exploring the realms of possibility
18.05.21 Interview by Hannah Valentine

Exploring the realms of possibility

American artist Nick McPhail’s architecturally-inspired paintings use layers and blank space to examine our perceptions of the world around us.
18.05.21 Interview by Hannah Valentine

Working on his paintings, drawings, and ceramics from his LA studio, Nick McPhail is inspired by the unique architecture of his Californian hometown, but he does not see realistic representation as the most important feature of his work. Instead, in luminously textured and coloured oil paintings, he encourages us to look with a fresh perspective on views that we might usually take for granted. Inspired by the way that collage uses layers to conceal and reveal certain elements, Nick overlays and overlaps his oil paints to explore the way that colour, light, and texture interact.

At Michigan State University, Nick began his university career by studying Audio Production before switching to Studio Art, and the influence of these musical elements shine through in his paintings. Just as musicians use moments of silence and quiet undertones to create contrasts in their music, in Nick’s paintings as well, the importance of the empty space is carefully considered. By highlighting certain elements and downplaying others, he explores how, very often, it is the things that seem the most blank and mundane that provide the most opportunity for thought.

Nick regularly exhibits his paintings, both in galleries and in more unusual locations. Last year his collection ‘Windows’ was exhibited at Ochi Gallery in LA, while a permanent installation of his 12-foot-high acrylic painting has towered over the busy main road on Sunset Boulevard since 2019.

We talk to Nick about the importance of boredom, the appeal of architecture, and the meditative practice of art.

Talk us through your artistic process—your tools, your routines and your methods.
My routines change all the time, but I’m very strict about whatever routine I’m currently in. I always try to have a rigid schedule where my studio time is the top priority. I think it’s vital as an artist to carve out enough time to play with ideas. I’m constantly experimenting. The main tools I use are brushes, pencils, and palette knives. I get really focused on finessing the edge of a texture or colour, and my favourite tool for that is the really cheap metal edgers that you can find in hardware stores. Leaving outlines around objects is a way to incorporate the aesthetics of collage into my paintings. One thing I like about collage is that each object or texture has its own outlined boundary, and I’ve spent a lot of time exploring ways to get that same feel in an oil painting. It adds a level of tension to the overall composition.

All of my work—paintings, drawings, ceramics—informs each other. The visual information and techniques that I use in one medium spills into the others, and the whole process becomes a cycle over time. It’s not very separated, even though the works look quite different. My painting practice is very much about subtraction. I start with a solid colour underpainting which is usually a bright orange, pink, red or yellow. Oil paint can be very transparent, so I try to think about what colour and feeling I want to resonate underneath the painting as a whole. For me painting is a process of covering up the underpainting, making choices about what to leave visible, and to what extent.

Your paintings focus on buildings and other architectural aspects. What is it about these elements that appeals to you?
I’m interested in how we interact with the architecture that surrounds us in the world. I explore how we remember these spaces and environments, and how we frame these scenes in our minds. When I look at architecture, I contemplate the factors that could have affected it and made it look the way it does—the different occupants, building laws, environmental factors, time and entropy, aesthetic choices and function, interaction over time with plants and the natural world. To me, it’s all insanely complicated and interesting, but, at the same time, it is just a simple building.

Nick McPhail
"I’m interested in how we interact with the architecture that surrounds us in the world. I explore how we remember these spaces and environments, and how we frame these scenes in our minds."

How much relation do your paintings have to "real life” locations?
A major part of my practice is taking long exploratory walks, where I take lots of photos, however, these are just a starting point. I use them to lay out the composition and to think about the relationship between the objects, but once I start painting, I tend to let go of the source imagery and freely manipulate. I usually completely change things around, bring in fragments from other photographs, and improvise. The paintings become less about a certain place and more about the feeling you get when you become fully present and aware of your surroundings, or how you are affected by thinking of the memory of these places. I think in that sense, they become more than “real” in some ways. It’s like an extension of reality or a simulation.

Nick McPhail
"I deliberately focus on scenes where nothing is actually happening. Boredom is profound, and its presence opens up the space for potential."

There’s such a strong sense of “potential” in your work, like something is about to happen. You don’t feature people in your paintings, but it always feels like someone could be just about to walk into frame...
I think the sense of “potential” is conceived by the overwhelming sense of boredom in my work. I deliberately focus on scenes where nothing is actually happening. Boredom is profound, and its presence opens up the space for potential. It could be the potential to be emotionally transported to another place or time, the potential to form relationships between memory and history, or the looming potential of an action that hasn’t happened yet. I don’t feature people in the paintings because, for me, the human element is the viewer looking at the painting and their relationship to the scene.

Nick McPhail
"Sometimes when you spend time staring at something mundane, you can go beyond the details on the surface and let your mind open up to memories, ideas, emotions, and other possibilities. In that sense, the process is a meditation and an exploration of my inner-self."

In many of your works, the blank space of vast white walls or empty driveways feels as important a focus as the detailed close-up of buildings, plants, and trees. Is this something you think about as you’re painting?
I love that observation. I’m interested in bringing awareness and attention to objects that normally remain in the periphery of our vision—in other words, things we see every day but don’t actually see or really notice. All of the objects and areas of the paintings have an equal level of importance. So yes, the empty expanse is an essential element.

In this way my work is about slowing down, stopping, and paying attention to one’s surroundings. Sometimes when you spend time staring at something mundane, you can go beyond the details on the surface and let your mind open up to memories, ideas, emotions, and other possibilities. In that sense, the process is a meditation and an exploration of my inner self.

On your Instagram, you mention that you’re working on a new ceramics series. Is there anything more you can tell us about that?
Ceramics has always been a consistent part of my practice, but it’s something that I haven’t really made very public. I love working on the wheel and playing with the materiality of clay. It’s also something that I work on when I need a little space from the painting studio. It helps to re-energise my painting practice. Ceramics and painting are both meditative processes. They are just different sides of the same coin.

I recently started making some ceramics that have a more direct relationship to my paintings. I am recreating mass produced, recognisable vessels in ceramic and incorporating imagery that is common in my paintings. I’m still developing the series, but I hope to exhibit it alongside the paintings at some point soon!

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nickmcphail.com / @nickmcphail