BIO

NICK LEPPMANN (b. 1991, USA) is a Seattle-based artist who depicts the often overlooked impact of our ambitions on the natural world. He mixes detailed, representational imagery with expressive mark-making to create vibrant, gestural portrayals of a world altered by even our most mundane activities. He graduated from Whitman College in 2013 and has exhibited his work throughout the Pacific Northwest, most recently at the SAP gallery in Kirkland, WA.

Statement

I have always been fascinated, and often horrified, by interactions between the man-made world we fashion for ourselves and the world as it would be without us. My current paintings focus on the consequences of these interactions and the integration of synthetic and manufactured elements into the natural world.

As humans, we are constantly working to improve our quality of life and ease of living. Our progress towards this goal grows exponentially, but each step brings with it its own set of consequences, both predicted and unforeseen.

I seek to call out the often-over-looked side effects of these improvements. I do this by honoring the beauty and strength of the natural world, while simultaneously acknowledging its fragility, the inevitability of change, and the changes we are causing.

Using vibrant colors, gestural mark-making, shapes, and patterns, I aim to capture the moment of change, while we are still able to look forward and back - the synthesis of future and past, of manufactured and natural.

My work is both cynical and reverential in the face of inevitable change and the impact our ambitions have on the world. I think that with each change we make or cause, it’s valuable to ask if it’s a change for the better.

CV

[* denotes group show]

EDUCATION
2013 Bachelor of Art (cum laude), Art. Whitman College. Walla Walla, WA.

EXHIBITIONS
2021 Untitled. Old World Tasting Room. Seattle, WA.*
2020 Tiny Works. SAP Art Gallery. Kirkland, WA.*
2019 New Works. Ward Johnson Winery. Seattle, WA
2018 Wallowa Valley Festival of Arts. Josephy Center for Arts & Culture. Joseph, OR.*
2014 Nick Leppmann: Entrapment. Thorndike Gallery. Ashland, OR.*
2013 Nick Leppmann: Thankful. Sheehan Gallery. Walla Walla, WA.*
2012 Spring Juried Student Art Show. Sheehan Gallery. Walla Walla, WA.*