Nicolas Shake mines the desert outskirts of LA for traces of 20th-century Americana, sculpting luminous ruins of postwar optimism.
Rooted in the landscape and mythos of the Antelope Valley, NicolasShake constructs sculptural and photographic works from thediscarded material culture of Southern California.
Repurposing tires, plastics, faded signage, and industrial dyes, he forges poetic objects that evoke the optimism and decay of postwar Americana. Using the desert as a studio and the sun as a tool, Shake bleaches, dyes, and distorts his materials into works that are both luminous and melancholic. His “open-air darkroom” canvases and sculptural installations bear witness to a world eroded by time yet still pulsing with symbolic charge.
Shake was a resident artist at the Chinati Foundation (Marfa, 2019) and has exhibited with Nino Mier Gallery (Brussels), Galerie Timonier (New York), Rogers Office (Los Angeles), and Brant/Timonier (Palm Beach, FL).
