A Green point artist relishes the whole and the sum of his parts

by Marisa Procopio

“The process kind of starts from chaos,” said artist Nicolas Holiber. Not a bad place to begin, actually, whether making art or just about anything else. Surrounded by elements of all types, one can grab and place and rearrange until it— whatever it is—works.

In Holiber’s case, the “it” refers to sculpture and paintings he designs from a variety of materials to produce an often three-dimensional realization of DE constructivist theory. The artist holds a Studio Art BA from the University of Vermont and an MFA from New York Academy of Art. After a postgraduate fellowship completed in 2013, he chose a workspace in Brooklyn.

“[It’s] crafty here….the creative community is just huge. It’s right where I wanted to be,” he said.

The bits and pieces Holiber salvages for his creations he stores in quantity.

“My studio is small, and it keeps getting smaller,” he laughed. “Most of the wood is found or reclaimed; there are shipping pallets all over the neighborhood.”

Build it Green!NYC in Gown’s, a non-profit reuse and building material organization, is another fertile source for creative materials.

“If a building is being demolished, I’ll go make a trip up there…rent a U-Haul,” he grinned.

Holiber’s work is colorful, textural, and vibrant—its elements pieced together to create a fascinating new whole. When asked about the playfulness evident in the work, he explained, “that is inherent, yeah…it’s a very important part of my process, but it also comes out of the process. The openness…the fact that I allow anything to happen,” adding that he believes this sense of play helps to draw viewers in: “For something to be too serious, people might not be open to it. That’s always been a part of my work: not taking yourself too seriously.”

The process, he described, actually does begin with chaos—and that’s how he likes it.

“In bigger projects, I’ll start from a sketch,” he said. Otherwise? “I just try to start going at it….I enjoy working out of my imagination.” Music on Pandora is key; he plays it “really loud; it’s a little like a war zone in here.”

Holiber dives into his collection of salvaged materials and chooses, tweaks, and attaches what moves him. He’ll often start with “…pieces of wood that have accumulated; all of these little fragments. I’ll just dump all the pieces out and see what comes from it.”

Working like this, while exhilarating, does actually require some planning and to have a system in place so he can edit his work without a hassle. “I enjoy it, but it’s also very challenging; I’ll work on a piece for a week and if I don’t like it, I’ll have to take it apart. I’m constantly editing,” he said. (He drills in chosen pieces with screws for easy additions and subtractions.) “I also kind of like the viewer to put it together in their own mind; I try not to give people too much.”

Holiber is anticipating his first NYC gallery show in March at Gitler & ____ on the Upper West Side in Manhattan, consisting of 12-15 pieces of entirely new work.

Nicolas Holiber
nicolasholiber.com
Gitler &_____
3629 Broadway (Manhattan) / gitlerand.com