Artist-in-Residence Open Studio with Nicholas Aplin
Where: Ignite Studios - 60 Crane Street Ballina
Date: Friday 2 October 2026
Time: 9am - 3pm
Age: Open to all
Cost: Free to attend, no bookings required
Drawn to the imagery of the built environment, where nature intersects architecture and human-made objects, NRCG artist-in-residence Nicholas Aplin’s current body of work builds on a recent research trip to the city of Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and is inspired by the city’s mix of architecture and nature.
About the project and his Ignite Studios residency Aplin writes:
“I am interested in the visual contrasts of the city: the rich colour, dense vegetation and the mixture of architectural styles that sit alongside one another — colonial buildings, modern towers, domestic structures, and religious architecture and ornament. I am particularly drawn to the points where these different geometries, patterns and surfaces meet the lush vegetation of the city.
Using my photographs as a starting point, I will make a series of works on paper using gouache, ink, pastel and charcoal, extracting and simplifying architectural forms, patterns and contrasting shapes.
These drawings will then become material for further experimentation. I plan to cut, rearrange and collage sections of the works, combining fragments of architecture, colour and vegetation before drawing and painting back into them. Through this process I hope to move away from a literal representation of place and towards more layered, constructed images that reflect the density, colour and visual complexity of Kuala Lumpur.
The residency is an opportunity to work experimentally and at a larger scale, allowing drawings, fragments, photographs and works-in-progress to accumulate in the studio and gradually inform the direction of the larger body of work.”
On Friday 2 October, Aplin will open his studio to visitors. Free to attend, all are welcome to come and experience a working studio, learn about Aplin’s process and creative practice, and see some of the outcomes of his two-week residency at Ignite Studios.
Artist Bio
Nicholas Aplin examines the collision between built environments and the natural world, reflecting on the quiet tensions embedded in Australia’s suburban and public landscapes and commercial spaces.
Melbourne-based, Aplin has held solo exhibitions at Off the Kerb Gallery, Melbourne, has exhibited nationally in group shows at No Vacancy Gallery, Wagner Contemporary, and Michael Reid Northern Beaches, and has been a finalist in the Hawkesbury Art Prize (2023), R.M. McGivern Art Prize (2019), and Adelaide Parklands Art Prize (2025).
Alongside his visual arts practice, Aplin has worked extensively in film and television as a production designer and prop maker, with credits including the ARIA-nominated music video Geronimo and the Emmy Award-winning series Survivor. He holds a Diploma of Fine Arts from the Northern Institute of TAFE (Hornsby) and a Diploma of Filmmaking from the New York Film Academy.
Ignite Studios is a wheelchair accessible venue. Please contact us ahead of time if you have accessibility needs you would like us to be aware of.
For more information contact the Gallery on 02 6681 0530.
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Image: Nicholas Aplin, Sunset Tower, 2025