Jeremy Nichols was born in Tokyo, Japan in 1982. He spent most of his youth in the suburbs of Columbus, Ohio. After high school, he went to the Ohio State University to study printmaking under Charels Massey, Jr. and Philip von Rabbe. Shortly after he graduated with a BFA, he moved to Portland,Oregon where he is currently working, drawing, painting, and starring at walls.
“I am working on a larger body of work, where each piece is its own exploration. In these works, I try to explore the beauty, energy, balance, and harmony of the chaos in our environment. More specifically, they are about the relation of human existence versus nature. As a kid, I traveled regularly between upstate New York and Tokyo, all the while living in the suburbs of Ohio. The contrasting environments/cultures kind of confused me as a kid. It led me to not really understand where I belonged; and more-so not knowing where to call home. So, I try to reflect on this alienating feeling when I approach my artwork. I try to create something that contains fragments of recognizable patterns or textures, and layer them so they turn into this alien growth or world. I want to present something that may or may not be familiar to the viewer. I want viewers to see it as a foreign “alien” cluster, and take their own visual journey through the details. I want to take the viewer somewhere unfamiliar, much like how I felt as a kid growing up, not understanding the “normal” environment around me.” – Jeremy Nichols (Hi-Fructose)
