About
My Name is Nicolas Kramar. I was born in 1985 in Darmstadt, Germany, though i have roots in Slovakia and Sweden as well. My parents are both architects and artists which lead to an early socialization in the constructive and artistic/creative world.
In 2011 i moved to Berlin where I initially started my personal artistic voyage, subsequently cofounding a collective art-studio-space called SIX-KEYS at the GREENHOUSE in 2013. After 12 years in Berlin, with several group shows, one solo exhibition and countless intense experiences in the jungle of Berlin i decided to move to Stockholm in 2023. Craving a change of scenery, my new home gave me just that - a calming place to gain new focus on my work. Right now I am a part time carpenter in the archipelago of Stockholm, when I am not occupied with creating new works and finding new ways to express my artistic soul.
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Inspiration
Architecture, music, graffiti, and philosophy have been an influence to me since my childhood and teenage years.
Architecture - working with the computer and my hands, building models and learning to express my views in a two and three dimensional space - played a major role in the development of my current style.
Graffiti - This radical way of conquering the public space with bold moves and colors always fascinated me and soon the streets became a book that i was reading and writing at the same time.
Music - from learning to play the piano and guitar to making my first beats on the computer over twenty years ago and then producing electronic music with synthesizers on the side ever since I was reintroduced into this world in Berlin - this way of manifesting and receiving worlds beyond words has shaped and is continuing to shape my approach and technique.
Philosophy - the school of thought and clear expression of mind in a complex world. Being exposed to so many abstract concepts and different ways of seeing the world opened my eyes to yet another set of invisible perspectives.
I would like to add that where ever I turned my head i found inspiration in the tools that i used - computer, spray can, synthesizer... camera -this leads to an honorable mention:
Photography - it is a part of my process ever since i moved to Berlin and started to use it as a diary, capturing moments, moods, textures, shapes, light and shadow.
I acquired my high school diploma with a focus on english literature and philosophy in 2005. After that I studied architecture at TU Darmstadt from 2006 to 2011. I terminated university without a degree and moved to Berlin, where i studied Philosophy at Humboldt University for almost three years. Terminated again without a degree, but with a whole new set of tools in my bag. I turned my back to the academic educational system - thankful for all i have learned through it, but knowing that it was not for me. I am an autodidact at heart.
I am looking forward to a very fruitful collaboration with Artist Arena and all the new doors and windows that are opening. My current series of works that i created here in Stockholm needs to be properly exhibited!
I am currently making my first steps of creating a new series - assemblages of found objects.
And furthermore I am working on reactive digital graphics that are probably leading up to some kind of interactive installation.
My current series and the works that i have previously made in Berlin can be described as a hybrid of sculpture and painting. I use a vector based program to create two dimensional drawings that are cut out of wood by a CNC-Laser. In the next stage I assemble and glue the pieces into three dimensional topographies. Finally i paint the reliefs using ordinary spray cans as they are used in graffiti.
A lot of the process that i go through to conceive my art feels like a focused meditation. Hours and hours in front of the computer, nudging lines and points and angles until my feeling is satisfied.The assembly process is different in the way that it is not digital, but still it involves intense focus over many hours to glue up the pieces to a level of precision beyond the millimeter. Finally the actual painting process. I have the piece flat on the table, in the middle of the room, and i start walking around it applying the gradients layer by layer, color by color, sometimes a dozen or more individual layers of colors, each involving several hikes around the table. In between each layer I wait for the paint to dry and then carefully brush of excess pigment.
I usually do not know what a piece is going to look like when I create it - the process is a constant flow of intuitions, guiding me through a seemingly unlimited amount of options. The shapes i create appear to me as if i chiseled them from the stone that is my subconscious. The gradients i paint seem to merge from the color palettes of my forgotten dreams.
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