Growing up in Oklahoma, I found refuge in the magnificent sunsets and storms of the Great Plains. There I discovered my love of the purely aesthetic, wordless experience that I express through my artwork. I paint with oils, acrylics, and occasionally watercolors, markers, and oil crayons. All of my work is non-objective, meaning it is not a depiction, even an abstract one, of any material object; it has no focal point, no distinct subject, and is not communicating a story. Instead, I am attempting to hold the viewer’s interest through the harmony of the color and compositional choices in the gentlest, most non-coercive way possible.

Representational work quite naturally and appropriately places its emphasis on the subject matter being depicted. By contrast, I attempt to divide the emphasis in half between i) the physical object that is the painting and ii) the aesthetic experience of the painting. My hope is that the viewer might oscillate between two distinct experiences of scale and perspective, the first being an “actual size” perspective, one that is grounded in the viewer’s awareness of his or her immediate surroundings; the second stemming from a visceral desire to locate themselves within the atmosphere of the painting. If such a shift in perspective can be achieved and especially if there is an awareness of that shift, then perhaps it will encourage a ripple effect; problems can feel diminished; hope and possibility can take root. Whether it’s a fleeting moment or a more long-lasting effect, such as the one I gained from the many evenings watching the sun go down from my Oklahoma rooftop, my intent is to provide an opportunity for a change in vantage point.

Laine Nixon is a visual artist based in Sarasota, FL. She earned a BFA in painting from the University of South Florida and a BS in mathematics from the University of Tennessee. She has participated in numerous exhibitions, including solo exhibitions at Gallery 221@HCC in 2017 and Alfstad& Contemporary in 2018. Nixon’s work was published in Studio Visit Magazine, Vol 29, and UPPERCASE Magazine, Vol 60. It is in the collections of RBC Wealth Management, SRQ Media, and Hillsborough Community College. Development of her work has been supported by the 2016/17 John Ringling Towers Fund fellowship and a residency at the Hermitage Artist Retreat as well as Halo Arts Project Fellowship awards in 2021 and 2022. She maintains her studio at SPAACES and is an active member of this burgeoning community of artists.