Nicki Cherry - February 2023

Photo by Jake Price ‘23.

Nicki Cherry is an artist based in New York and Chicago. Cherry’s monstrous fiberglass and concrete sculptures incorporate active systems of growth and decay—tulips bloom from stretching tendrils, ceramic bodies leak milky fluids, spine-shaped candles burn and diffuse scent. Their work embraces the awkward and absurd to explore the frequent discomfort that comes with being a body. After initially studying to become a particle physicist, Cherry received their BA from the University of Chicago in 2014 and their MFA from Yale School of Art in 2019. Their work has been exhibited at NARS Foundation, the Border Project Space, Flux Factory, ELM Foundation and Shin Gallery in New York; AUTOMAT and Icebox Project Space in Philadelphia; and the Reva David Logan Center for the Arts, and Slate Arts and Performance in Chicago. They have received grants from Café Royal Cultural Foundation, Queens Council on the Arts, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. Cherry was a 2022 AIM Fellow at the Bronx Museum of Arts.