Nick Hersey is a British born painter and designer who has lived in England, Brazil, Thailand, China and is now resident in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia . His predominantly figurative work explores themes of individual growth, personal experience, memories and the way these illuminate the existential conundrum of the modern individual living in a complex digital society.
In 2001 Nick moved to Brazil and spent 4 years living in Sao Paulo. There he developed initiatives, workshops and collaborative projects with young and disadvantaged people from the favelas around the city. This was a theme he continued to explore when he moved to Thailand in 2006, working with displaced Burmese migrants who had found refuge in neighbouring Thailand but who had been stripped of their identity – both legally and emotionally. His collaborative projects combined self-portraits and subjective paintings, exhibiting his own works alongside those of his subjects, as a way of acknowledging their status and enriching their own skills and sense of self.
In 2007 he moved to Shanghai, and after a series of self-initiated projects with cultural tribes such as professional Chinese skateboarders and banned local Punk bands, joined forces with the Island6 art collective – an international group of multidisciplinary artists based in the city who explored the clash of cultures and economies that was the new ‘Open-for-business China’ with it’s fledgling consumer lifestyle, mass population and the struggle for success, freedom and financial success.
On his return to England in 2010 he moved to the East Midlands, near Sheffield, and carried out a variety of projects, residencies and collaborations in such diverse environments as a disused chocolate factory, a low end shopping mall and the empty shells of condemned buildings habited by Urban-exploration gangs.
He moved to Malaysia in August 2021, and established a studio where he focuses on drawing and painting, organising group events with local artists from Malaysia, Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines and exploring on-chain art in the form of NFTs.