Nicole M Boitos

...is an artist working in various mediums including, but not limited to: etching, engraving, watercolor, oil on canvas, mixed mediums on paper, and tattoo on skin.

In 1993, Ms. Boitos left the corn and the flat fields of central Illinois to study fine art at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and art history at the University of Pennsylvania. Since graduation, she has worked primarily as a traditional intaglio printmaker and an oil painter, but has also developed unique methods of hand engraving and inking sheets of copper.

Commercially, Ms. Boitos produces a wide range of work for various applications - scientific illustration for medical journals, storyboards and illustrations for advertising agencies, custom art for album covers and music videos, and illustrations for children's books. Ms. Boitos is also an independent, self-taught tattoo artist, specializing in custom-designed work.

Ms. Boitos enjoys submerging herself in music, books, nature and film, and currently resides in Philadelphia.

Artist Statement

As an inquisitive child, drawing was just my way of documenting what was around me, what was in me...what I saw, regardless of the actual tangibility of these things. Transcribing visually that which I could not naturally perceive with my senses. Not much has changed since I was five, just the expansion of my vocabulary and visual language skills. I wasn't serious about any of this until high school when I was first introduced to printmaking while taking classes at a university. Printmaking is a rather indirect process, meaning what mark you make upon the stone or the metal plate is not an end-result in itself. The stages, instead of diluting the creative process, provide me with many opportunities to manipulate the work. As many layers of line exist as layers of intent. I can draw a delicate, wonderful little thing which a breath could seemingly disintegrate, then etch it in hard, cold metal - a material which has as much compositional integrity as does the image. Oil painting has been attractive to me since it is exactly the opposite: I work intuitively, directly, organically - the elements meld together with the help of a loose brush and many translucent layers.

The major theme, or force, in my work is conflict/struggle/resolution. I primarily use animals as vehicles for this rather simple metaphor. I question our ability to deeply empathize with images of human suffering. We change the channel when we are asked to save a neglected child, but wince and coo when asked to save a wounded animal. In animal life we remain open and perceptive of tragedy, of pain...and with that our spirits can still identify on a profound level. I don't believe by nature we are humans - "modern man" has stopped communicating directly with instinct, constantly robbing ourselves of internal credibility. Animals are everything we will not allow ourselves to be - good and bad.

I welcome all questions about myself and my work, just send me an email.