CONFLUX: LLOYD MARTIN + STEPHEN NICCOLLS
A guest curatorship by Jessica Hagen
Dryden Gallery/Providence Picture Frame, North Providence, RI • jessicahagen.com • Through December 2, 2023
The Dryden Gallery’s expansive exhibition space is the ideal venue for CONFLUX: LLOYD MARTIN + STEPHEN NICCOLLS, two accomplished, mid-career American artists. The exhibit includes forty-plus paintings, many large scale, and is presented by guest curator Jessica Hagen of Jessica Hagen Fine Art + Design of Newport, RI.
Hagen chose the name of the exhibition, CONFLUX, as it means a coming together, a confluence of Martin’s and Niccolls’ work. “To my eye, their paintings are a natural pairing,” says Hagen. “Both artists are highly skilled colorists creating compelling non-representational compositions. Martin’s work employs the use of straight lines to wrangle, define and convey areas of color, while Niccolls makes use of curvilinear shapes to do the same. The juxtaposition of these two stylistic approaches is exciting, uplifting, and energizing for the viewer.”
Martin is a Providence native and a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. Internationally recognized, his abstract work is often compared to music. Art critic John Goodman wrote that Martin’s paintings “achieve a Mondrianesque climax of rhythm.” The viewer perceives linear movement throughout his paintings and is expertly guided by Martin’s vibrant color juxtapositions. Furthermore, Martin references architecture in his paintings, though clearly abstract, that gives his work a sense of gravity and weight.
Niccolls hails from the Hudson Valley and received a BFA from the School of Fine Arts, Boston and an MFA from UMass Amherst. “Every sensation I’ve known can potentially find its way into my paintings,” says Niccolls, whose work arises from a fascination with structure. “Each painting establishes its own unique context, or world,” says Niccolls. “It may have elements that evoke still-life, landscape, or portrait painting, or some combination of any of these, or perhaps something else entirely.” Niccolls has exhibited extensively in museums and galleries throughout New York state and the northeast and is the recipient of the Phelan Award, the Purchase Award from the Samuel Dorsky Museum of Art, and the Albany Mayor’s Prize.
— Emily Randolph