Nick Fedaeff

Composer, designer, musician, and artist Nick Fedaeff’s work is a mélange of contemporary street art, realist painting, and traditional Australian aboriginal crafts. Previously described as “soft Surrealism,” Fedaeff’s works range from absurdist scenes to psychedelic portraiture. For example, Expectant Signum (2013) portrays a nonsensical lobster dinner taking place in a barren forest, while Wicked Game (2014) depicts a girl whose hair and mind are expanding into eye-bending swirls of color. Fedaeff, who was born in Russia and is now based in Australia, says, “I can’t really look at the world without thinking about how to express it on canvas.” His fantastical images combine diverse styles from divergent eras into a contemporary vision. Inspiration can come from many sources - dreams, observing life, other painters or the esoteric creative seed randomly appearing at will. All these rich sources of influence provide Nick Fedaeff with elements that he valiantly translates to canvas. The slightly disorienting, the hallucinatory quality of a dream, the element of surprise, the absurdity of life are cleverly layered into Nick’s work referencing Surrealism and the Old Masters of the Renaissance. Thematically Nick interprets the relationships and interconnections between men and women and life and death adding humour as tool of engagement. The study of conscious and unconscious leaves the observer with the unsettling feeling that there is more to the stories than meets the eye.  Whether it be historical figures, a commanding colour, a lucid dream or the look of a complete stranger, Nick, in his own words, mixes these objects, environments and observations into a recipe for his next piece. Often described as a soft-surrealist Nick acknowledges the influence of Da Vinci, Dali, Bosch and Picasso not only for their brilliant work but how they came to create, how they lived and their attitudes to life. Originally from Russia, Nick now resides in New Zealand with his paintings being exhibited in collections in New Zealand, Australia, Europe and Japan. He is an accomplished musician and writer and has been painting from childhood. Nick uses a combination of acrylics, oils and mix media to create his work. With a never-ending source of creative inspiration Nick will continue to evolve as an artist discovering new techniques and exploring different ideas.