Nicholas Auen

Born 1982 in San Diego, CA. Lives and works in California.

Auen’s professional art career began when he was 19 years old while studying under the artist Therman Statom. While working with Therman, he further developed his skills in glass blowing, painting, ceramics, and various metallic materials.

With Therman’s influence, he was able to study with many other established artists such as Martin Blank, Dale Chihuly, Jun Kaneko and Karen LaMonte amongst many others.

The experiences while working with artists in their variety of mediums strengthened Auen’s desire to create art that conveys messages utilizing reflective finishes and acrylic paints.

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1000x1000 Artist image for Landing Page - Auen

AVAILABLE WORKS

Our inventory changes often. Below you’ll find select highlights and current availability. If you have a specific interest, we encourage you to contact the gallery directly or follow the artist to receive early access to new arrivals and relevant updates.

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Solo Exhibition in Palm Springs

Introspective Energy

If you missed Nicholas Auen's exhibition in our Palm Desert gallery last season, here’s another opportunity. Join us in Palm Springs for a special opening reception—your chance to meet one of the most promising talents of his generation.

Nicholas creates figurative and abstract imagery using meticulously chromed and hand-painted aluminum cut-outs, resulting in a mesmerizing, multidimensional effect. His work is already in numerous collections, and while his career is off to a stellar start, the best is yet to come.

While our galleries are open year-round, this will be the final opening reception of the 2024–25 season. Our event schedule resumes in October, so we hope you’ll take this opportunity to join us—or to visit the exhibition during its run if you can’t attend the opening.

in his own words

Nicholas Auen about his work

Inspiration, technique, and his vision as an artist. Nicholas Auen talks about his work in this 5-minute video captured during his recent exhibition at our Palm Desert gallery.

Biography

Born 1982 in San Diego, CA. Lives and works in California, USA.

Nicholas Auen was born into an artistic family that encouraged his passion of music, drawing, painting, architecture, and our environmental beauty in the cosmos. Developing his skills using multiple mediums, Nicholas studied glass blowing, welding, life drawing and art history. Auen’s professional art career began when he was 19 years old while studying under the artist Therman Statom. While working with Therman, he further developed his skills in glass blowing, painting, ceramics, and various metallic materials. With Therman’s influence, he was able to study with many other established artists such as Martin Blank, Dale Chihuly, Jun Kaneko and Karen LaMonte amongst many others. The experiences while working with artists in their variety of mediums strengthened Auen’s desire to create art that conveys messages utilizing reflective finishes and acrylic paints.

Innumerable symbolic connotations of the reflective surface impact the spatial perceptions of one’s individual ego. Playing with the duality of the physical and the abstract, the reflections of the surface of Auen’s artwork force the connection of environmental and the individual’s perspective during the immediate. Capturing the primal forces of the abstract with his liquid series, geometric landscape series, or the various narratives of the representational envisage series, Auen pushes the emotional dialogue of self-reflection.

The abstract ambiguity of the Liquid series delves into the psyche through charged color palettes of the composition. Movement of liquid objects display the interplay and depth of negative space harnessed through the fluidity of the unrested forms. Textures, hues, and reflectivity dance amongst the viewer's unique perspective that is captured within the work. The reflective composition expands the field of vision of the surrounding environment which would otherwise be hidden. The reflection and textures allow augmentation and deformity of reality outstretching beyond the physical space it occupies to envelope the environment just like a liquid filling a glass.

The Envisage series focuses on linear movement, structural stability, and negative space to express a specific representational narrative. Each composition is an interpretation through self-realization and the previous experiences of the individual’s life. One might view the work as a serene scene while another viewer could interpret the narrative from a completely different lens. The goal of the maze-like representational painting promotes the dialogue of one’s unique human experiences and their personal reflections of the modern state of morality.