Nicole Buffett is an abstract painter and was one of the first artist in residence at the JB Blunk studio. Informed by an Independent study program in Jaipur, India, where she learned and witnessed the traditional rural textile process, she found her love of organic pigments and began to develop her relationship to mixed media and abstraction. Made by exposing the work to the natural elements of Earth, wind, water, and fire, her images reflect and become nature.

Buffett uses a combination of both organic and synthetic materials on wood panel. This ranges from spray paint, foraged Earth pigments, house paint, epoxy resin, and collected natural found elements. The finished work is a hyper-organic, atmospheric, abstract image under a smooth, glossy, glass-like surface. This mixed media reflects a balance between surrender and that which can be controlled. This juxtaposition, both physically and conceptually, represents Buffett’s perspective on adaptation, and ultimately, the transformation of our contemporary world, both environmentally and spiritually. She thinks of her paintings as topographies—“places” that she hopes will allow for an immediate entry into the contemplative, meditative, and mysterious aspects of life and humanness.

Buffett’s work has been exhibited across the U.S. and abroad. She was born in Los Angeles, California, and lives and works in the San Francisco Bay Area.

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