Humdrum Catastrophes: Art Installations by Nicolas Shake

LA-based artist Nicolas Shake combines painting, sculpture and photography to create impressive artworks exploring the spaces on the border of suburban sprawl.

“Humdrum Catastrophes extends from a body of work the artist has been developing for years along the outskirts of Los Angeles County. In his site-specific ventures, Shake extracts items discarded from the domestic interiors of surrounding communities and assembles these findings into ephemeral sculptural arrangements. This process of material construction reflects the same strategies of lighting and compositional balance executed in the artist’s private studio practice when painting or developing his sculptural works. Yet in this context, Shake’s physical production in the open desert is finalized through long exposure photography. The resulting photographs offer contemporary parallels to tropes of classical and still life painting.”

— Cristopher Cichocki, Epicenter Projects Chief Curator

More art on the grid via Epicenter Projects