Nick Warfield

Statement & Brief biography

I believe everybody is living their own myth. That the earth thinks in myth to use an idea cultivated by Dr Martin Shaw. and that myth is how we find a language to hold a place within it. Some are more conscious than others but that on some level we are all yearning for ways to feed and nourish a mythic, meaningful existence. My work is deeply steeped in this idea and for me wild animals, that I encounter, have become a spiritual medium to populate my own story with characters. Characters that can offer guidance, totemic spirit and archetype. There is a universality to this relationship. There is a reason why Polar Bears symbolise climate change or Koalas symbolise forest conservation and I don’t think it is purely on functional terms, it embodies a spirit that emboldens people to action and investment. Animals speak to us on the mythic plane, they are a powerful embodiment of pure potential and existence, that lack neurotic behaviours and self awareness that so often disconnect us humans and sway us from the path. Their existence is a dance with the natural rhythms and harmonies of natural lore and as human beings we inherently understand this. I have been a practicing artist, mainly in the medium of Sculpture for the past decade. initially after leaving secondary school I had a passion for architecture and design and studied building design, engineering and drafting at TAFE in South East QLD. Through this period I developed an interest or a focus more in form than function and so decided to change direction and enrolled in a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the University of Newcastle. I took to sculpture like a duck to water. Halfway through my degree I grew impatient and decided to leave to pursue my art on my own. I moved to the country on the Mid North Coast of NSW and have been developing my style and sculpture practice ever since.