Known for his ethereal landscapes and richly textured canvases, Rob Nicholl’s most recent body of work is heavily influenced by the lush, utopian landscapes of his upbringing on Vancouver Island. As a child, frequent family trips to the Gulf Islands exposed him to the immense physicality and power of the natural world, which left a lasting impression and now serve as the foundation for his subject matter. His paintings draw from a diverse group of influences including the 16th century landscape paintings of Bruegel the Elder, the hyper-colourful large-scale paintings of Dana Schutz, and the 1990s layered theatrical stage sets of David Hockney.