Nicki Mayne
Contemporary figurative artist
Nicki Mayne is a figurative artist based in Sussex, England, working in oil paint and gouache. She has a BA (hons) degree in Fine Art Painting from Kingston University and exhibits widely both in Sussex and nationally. Recent exhibitions include the Mall Galleries, Royal Academy in London, Patchings Art Centre in Nottingham and Worthing Museum and Art Gallery. She is a winner of The Artist Exhibition Award at the 2025 TALP Open 2025.
Nicki's artwork tends to have a personal connection to her life and the people and places around her. Her life and experiences are explored and reflected in her paintings, which span landscape, still life, portraiture and figure painting. The fragility of life is a major thread running through her work, and she is interested in exploring the vulnerabilities and complexities of being human and ageing in a changing world.
She is particularly drawn to the human figure, using it as a means to explore the emotional connections between individuals and their environments. Alongside her artistic practice, Nicki works part-time supporting vulnerable people and this role has enriched her artwork, as it feeds directly into her exploration of the human experience.
Working from life is an important part of her practice. Her more narrative driven works begin from life, and are then developed through her imagination and additional references to create believable pictorial worlds. She paints with a light touch, using soft brushwork and subtle colour shifts to create quiet restrained paintings. She has been influenced over the years by many painters, including David Bomberg, Lucian Freud and Gwen John.
