The surreal and wonderful mind of Nick Gatenby

Running an agency while creating a surrealist oeuvre is not for the faint-hearted, but it has been the reality for Parkville-based artist Nick Gatenby since he made his move across the ditch amid the pandemic. 

After completing a Bachelor of Design, Nick, who is originally from New Zealand, worked in advertising and moved to Melbourne at the end of 2020 to grow his agency Collido Creative.

Since making the move, he immersed himself in the local art scene and worked with notable brands like Schweppes, Mars Wrigley, Nando’s Australia and PlayStation as an artist, creative consultant, and curator. However, alongside growing his agency Nick found the time throughout the pandemic to begin his seminal body that gradually grew into his first exhibition The Void which was held in July at BSIDE Gallery in Fitzroy

“Coming into COVID was actually a bit of a change for me, like it was for everyone. I was made unemployed at that point and so I started to freelance and when I started freelancing, it opened up a lot of different opportunities,” he said. 

“I’d always wanted to move more away from the commercial stuff into more of the art world, so I saw it as an opportunity.”

Nick’s dream has now become a reality after his successful solo exhibition where he showcased 10 paintings, that he said were inspired by the anxieties of modern life and completed over a two-year period, each piece requiring around 30 to 60 hours.

The body of work explores the chaotic interplay of reality and media-saturated perceptions, seeking to explore questions and ideas that inundate the digital world such as eating meat, partying, and raising a family. 

His surrealist style is informed by the way he wants to represent these ideas as he feels that it reflects the way they are frequently distorted.

“As a collective, we continue to experience a strong sense of uncertainty in post-pandemic life, with the emergence of artificial intelligence, global conflicts and inflation,” he said. 

“I wanted to encapsulate this feeling of the unknown in my art, examining the space between what’s real and what we think is real.” 

The artworks invite viewers to reflect on the impact of contemporary culture and consider reaching out to those who see the world differently, in an intersection that Nick said could only be described as The Void.

With his first solo exhibition now complete Nick and his partner are relocating to London, where he will continue to build his body of work and keep his artistic dream alive. 

“The mindset basically is that you kind of become who you’re surrounded by and there’s some of the best artists in the world that live in London,” he said. 

Although Nick’s stint in Parkville has come to an end, he said that he had enjoyed his time in a “beautiful” area, and while London gains a budding surreal mind, inner-city Melbourne has to say goodbye for now. •