Nile Livingston is an emerging African American contemporary artist working in drawing, web-art, and installation art which is three-dimensional artwork that is installed specifically on the site where it is exhibited because it alters the way that space is experienced. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1988 Livingston became involved in the arts at a young age. She received her B.F.A. in Studio Art, at Kutztown University where she focused on sculpture and large metal fabrications. She grew up in the University City neighborhood of Philadelphia. Her mother; an educator, and father; a draftsman at her grandfather’s architectural firm and a guitar player, encouraged both of their children to explore various forms of expression such as music, writing and dance.
Always doodling, experimenting with computers and building new habitats for her toys out of reassembled household objects, it was not until attending the Creative and Performing Arts High School that Livingston found satisfaction through the visual arts. She began creating art as a way of recording her life, similar to a public diary entry. Livingston became involved in community organizations such as the Mural Arts Program and Curtain Call Creation performances. Art courses at surrounding universities in Philadelphia introduced her to computer graphics and videography. Fascinated by the limitless mediums, she found that each combination provided evidence for narrative art works that address social, environmental, and technological changes.
Livingston continues to juxtapose found materials with intentions of articulating her current experiences as it relates to the world at large. She displays her works to be understood in new contexts and to spark conversations about our overall human condition. Her work is accessible to all people, found on walls of public buildings as well as showcases of interactive new-media-art distributed through the internet. Her sculptures, often experimental and dreamlike, use ‘low’ mediums varying from concrete, metals, wood and plastic to found objects. She is equally recognized for her vibrant line drawings which often documents a series of character encounters, such as the ‘Church Ladies’ or her current project; ‘People Selling Things On The Side Of The Road’. The subjects of her work are as broad as the materials in which she uses to expresses them. Reminiscences family gatherings, as well as her parents’ accumulation of teapots and acoustic instruments have inspired themes in her art such as the body, memory, loss and desire; including her own specific biographic interpretations as she works at trying to understand the sources of her anxiety.
Livingston is influenced by the visual ideas and self-reflections of conceptual artist, Chris Burden, who produces art that discomforts but also intrigues viewers to continue to search inside themselves. Livingston combines her classical training with inspirations of folks artists such as Frida Kahlo, whose paintings have knowledge that goes beyond simply studying the world; into comprehension by experiencing life. She also finds encouragement in Anish Kapoor, whose refined sculptures have achieved a desirable level of daunting quality in its visual imagery. Livingston is actively toiling at new creations. “There is so much in our community, society, and civilization to see and learn about, and for that my passions are extremely charged and my art is the by-product of human consciousness.”
