What began in August 2021 as a newfound creative outlet, turned into something much bigger than Nick Bultman could have ever imagined. With the adopted handle @nbultman_art on social media, he documented his journey using abstract art; creating pieces ranging from process videos with trendy sounds to bold gallery ready pieces.

Born and raised in California but currently living in Gilbert, Arizona, USA. Nick Bultman doesn’t have any formal art education; he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Industrial Technology from California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo and has always had an avid interest in the relationship between science, technology, engineering and the creative arts. Post college, for several years, Nick worked in the corporate environment of engineering and sales where he became increasingly frustrated with the lack of freedom to express his deepest artistic intuitions. He decided to take these intuitions seriously by chronicling his journey and taking the leap from private inspiration to public demonstration.

Nick has over 300,000 followers across social media platforms, such as Instagram and TikTok and his art is displayed in local Arizona boutiques and galleries. His work is now managed by Red Eight Gallery at the Royal Exchange in London. His main focus is to create bold, kinetic and unique works of art while sharing his journey along the way; hopefully entertaining and inspiring others to manifest their own creativity.

“In the majority of my work, I endeavour to show a sharp juxtaposition between symmetrical lines and natural paint movements. This makes my paintings stand out rather than blend into their surroundings. I want people to feel the energy behind my paintings and be inspired by each work’s energy and motion; I want people’s immediate senses to be captivated by the unique forms; I want their imagination to run free with how those forms resonate with them. A motto I strongly identify with is “show, don’t tell”.

I feel  it is extremely important to emphasise the unique benefits that physical art, like painting, sculpture, graffiti, etc. have over digitally created art. For example, I have yet to see a computer program enable you to accurately represent a paint splash with perfect, compositional awareness. Without quantum computing, it is impossible to accurately model the interplay between earth’s physics such as gravity, temperature, paint densities, utensil contact shape and strike speeds. Computer programs do a great job of creating perfect straight lines and smooth gradients; I try to paint perfect lines in contrast with organic paint movements to highlight the stark contrast between the digital and physical world.

90% of my time is spent mixing paints, preparing canvases, masking, executing digital renders and planning. However, the real magic behind my artwork relies on one single moment of focused effort. After several attempts on practice canvases, I build up my muscle memory to ultimately convey my motion to a prepared canvas. My brain shuts off and my body becomes one with my utensil. Since every muscle movement critically affects the overall composition, I will only attempt the movement when I’m prepared and in a flow state. I’m most proud of my work when I’m pursuing something new, when I’m pushing the boundaries of my technique.

I am captivated by motion, contrast, symmetry, high-energy, balance, focus and intention and my desire to uncover techniques that encapsulates such art is very strong. I borrow attributes from mediums such as photography, animation, videography and painting when creating my own original works using themes such as duality, power, ascension, chaos and order, energy, dormancy and entropy. My art is not intended to represent anything that currently exists. I seek out techniques that spontaneously capture unique forms that have never been seen before.”