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I met Nick Boyd about two years ago in Auckland. He was living at Cross Street Studios artist collective, curating shows, managing the gallery, partaking in shows and continuing to practice making art. I was diving head first into the very first, First Thursdays, going to as many shows as possible and honestly just trying to get some sort of clue about how to put on an art event.

Over this time (Back in 2009 it was) there was an amazing collective of artists living in and hanging out at Cross Street Studios. To cut a long story short, First Thursdays wouldn’t have been possible without the help of a few friends from Cross Street Studios. They were such an amazing collective of uber talented and just genuinely lovely people (including Uri Davillier, Tessa Stubbing and Hazel Davies). Nick was one of them.

For the first year or so of our friendship, I knew Nick as a humble poet and a pretty mean BBQ’er. Turns out Nick is also a super gifted painter.

If your into his work and free this Saturday afternoon around 3pm, come check out Nicks first solo show at The Depot in Devonport. Until then…here are some words about his background, intentions and inspirations.

Why hello Nick :) You're obviously a man of many creative outlets. What led you to painting?

I started making art when I was 20 when I saw some of Jean Michel Basquiats paintings that my friend showed me. My sisters friend had given me a blank canvas some years before, which stayed blank until I painted it one day because it was raining and I didn’t want to go outside, I usually play a lot of sports. For some reason since then I just kept making art, consistently creating and experimenting, learning from trial and error. Another day around the beginning of 2009 for some other reason I decided to switch mediums from acrylic paint and teach myself to oil paint. It has been going splendid and with every painting I become more confident with my painting attack. I twiddle around on the Guitar and eventually I will get into performance and music making, as I play the the guitar I’m not putting any pressure on it. I make poetry organically, and only write when the words come to me. I have compiled three zines of poetry so far, with many more poems waiting to be realised.

So basically your one of those all around creative people that are good at everything? (smiles)

When we first met, you were living at Cross Street Studios. I saw the little bungalows out back…that must have been a super unique/fun/inspiring experience.

The Cross Street Studios arts collective was a blessing for me as a self taught artist. It gave me a great introduction into the Auckland art scene, I would have been clueless otherwise. The collective also gave rise to the Auckand zine fest in 2009 and 2010 as Tessa Stubbing another Cross Streeter got me on board and we created what it will become in 2011.

Definitely enjoyed the last Zinefest, so good to hear its becoming a yearly event!

So the classification question…if you had to define your work, how would that be?

I’m unsure as to how I would classify my art but I guess I could say the process is quite random, which is born from being self taught. I have tried to refine my working style but I decided that keeping it random helps the ideas and motivation flow. I don’t try to paint the same all the time, as with creating, originality comes from the mistakes the unknown provides. The ideas for my work stem from my natural ability to observe and absorb information and the connection I have with differing forms of consciousness, which will twist and morph the original stimulus. To simply classify my work would be to call it Organic.

Organic, I like that about you. What would you say inspired you early on as an artist? What influences you today?

Basquiat was my initial inspiration into making art, he decided to be successful in creation and proved himself, while making amazingly beautiful works. I am very motivated by music. Listening to Bob Marley can get me off the apathetic couch and get my hands working. I am also motivated by skateboarding. It doesn’t add to my art work visually, but skaters like John Cardiel make me pumped to do something! Jack Kerouac the Author inspired me greatly before I got into art, his writing opened my eyes to the wonders of alternative life.

I am very inspired by nature and especially clouds. I am highly interested in the mind and compose and rework my paintings in my head for a couple of weeks or months, when I get to the limit of working on other stuff I start something else or for some reason the motivation will click and I begin.

Has anyone told you how awesome you are lately??

Thanks so much for chatting Nick and wishing you the best of luck for your upcoming solo show! THIS SATURDAY APRIL 9TH.