ACRYLIC ON CARDLED WOOD PANEL
2026
The Last Eruption of Slieve Gullion imagines the ancient volcanic landscape of Slieve Gullion, County Armagh, brought back to life. Inspired by the mountain's geological past, the painting explores the immense power of nature and the forces that shape and reshape our world.
Nicky is interested in the cycle of beginnings and endings, and how creation and destruction are often part of the same process. An eruption can mark the end of one landscape while giving rise to another. The painting sits somewhere between reality and imagination, reflecting on nature's constant capacity for change and renewal.
Nicky is an Irish visual artist whose paintings explore the power and mystery of the natural world. Drawn to volcanoes, coastlines, storms and landscapes that seem larger than ourselves, their work explores the meeting point between the real and the imagined, where landscape becomes entangled with folklore, memory, fiction and abstraction.
Often beginning with a real place, Nicky’s paintings gradually move into something remembered, invented or half-believed. Environmental change is one part of a wider fascination with nature's creative and destructive forces, human emotion and the stories we create to make sense of the world. Their work invites curiosity, suggesting places that feel ancient, uncertain and quietly charged with possibility.
Nicky is a recipient of the 2026 ArtLinks Bursary Award. Recent exhibitions include the RUA Annual Exhibition, Ulster Museum, Belfast; OXO Vol.5, Outset Gallery, Galway; and Interwoven, Killruddery Arts, Wicklow (2026).