“If it form the one landscape that we, the inconstant ones,
Are consistently homesick for, this is chiefly
Because it dissolves in water. Mark these rounded slopes
With their surface fragrance of thyme and, beneath,
A secret system of caves and conduits; hear the springs..”
W.H. Auden, In Praise of Limestone
Patrick Heide Contemporary Art is delighted to present Hear the springs, Barbara Nicholls’ (b. 1963, UK) first solo exhibition at our Brussels showroom.
Oscillating between chance and control, Barbara Nicholls explores the possibilities and limitations of pigment, water, and paper, translating her experience of the landscape into abstract watercolours. Through drawing, she reflects on both observed and imagined natural formations: tide lines on beaches, creeping glaciers and moraine deposits, cliffs and quarries whose shifting geological strata reveal traces of past events and the earth’s slow, continuous movements.
The exhibition title, Hear the springs, is inspired by W.H. Auden’s poem In Praise of Limestone, in which the poet uses the limestone landscape as a metaphor for flawed and imperfect human nature. Like limestone itself, Nicholls’ works are shaped by water and its movement, embracing processes of transformation, erosion, and emergence.
Nicholls’ studio process begins at times with large-scale sheets of heavyweight paper laid flat on the floor. The physicality of her practice is vital; she moves across and over the surface, first guiding water into pools or creating delicate lines with transparent washes. Once water touches the paper, it no longer remains flat, requiring Nicholls to carefully manage the buckling surface as she introduces pigment, experimenting with how much liquid the paper can handle.
The final works are visual embodiments of the experimental processes conducted in her studio - a space that functions as both a laboratory and a site of discovery. Fluid shapes intersect, colours bleed and evolve into one another, and organic lines, reminiscent of the earth’s shifting edges, emerge through her methodical yet intuitive approach.
Barbara Nicholls has exhibited extensively at major institutions across Europe and the UK. Notable solo presentations include Sedimentary Flow at The New Art Gallery Walsall (2017), Sedimentärer Fluss at Städtisches Museum Wesel, Germany (2019), and an exhibition at Windermere Jetty Museum in the Lake District (2022). Her work has also been featured in group shows internationally, among them exhibitions at Kaiser Wilhelm Museum (Krefeld, Germany), the Museum Kurhaus Kleve, and the ICA in London. Nicholls’ work is held in prominent public collections, including the British Museum, Museum Kurhaus Kleve, Kaiser Wilhelm Museum, The New Art Gallery Walsall, and Windermere Jetty Museum, among others.
You can view the works on ARTSY here.