Nicolas F. Shi is an

artist An artist is a person engaged in an activity related to creating art, practicing the arts, or demonstrating the work of art. The most common usage (in both everyday speech and academic discourse) refers to a practitioner in the visual arts o ...

Washington, D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

He is best known for

painting Painting is a Visual arts, visual art, which is characterized by the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called "matrix" or "Support (art), support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with ...

s that create an illusion of depth through

contour line A contour line (also isoline, isopleth, isoquant or isarithm) of a Function of several real variables, function of two variables is a curve along which the function has a constant value, so that the curve joins points of equal value. It is a ...

s like those on a

topographic map In modern mapping, a topographic map or topographic sheet is a type of map characterized by large- scale detail and quantitative representation of relief features, usually using contour lines (connecting points of equal elevation), but histori ...

, with the space between adjacent ones of the contour lines being filled by a single color.

Early life and education

A long-time Washington, DC resident, Shi was born in

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

to Chinese parents. In 1980, he left his war-torn country and came to the United States to attend college, receiving a master's degree in

architectural engineering Architectural engineering or architecture engineering, also known as building engineering, is a discipline that deals with the engineering and construction of buildings, such as environmental, structural, mechanical, electrical, computational, e ...

from

Oklahoma State University Oklahoma State University (informally Oklahoma State or OSU) is a public land-grant research university in Stillwater, Oklahoma, United States. The university was established in 1890 under the legislation of the Morrill Act. Originally known ...

in 1986. He practiced architecture and engineering for more than ten years before dedicating himself to painting. His work is influenced by his

Latin American Latin Americans (; ) are the citizenship, citizens of Latin American countries (or people with cultural, ancestral or national origins in Latin America). Latin American countries and their Latin American diaspora, diasporas are Metroethnicity, ...

upbringing, his Chinese heritage, and his formal education in the United States. He mixes the bright colors of

Central America Central America is a subregion of North America. Its political boundaries are defined as bordering Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean to the east, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest. Central America is usually ...

with the harmony and simplicity of traditional

Chinese painting Chinese painting () is one of the oldest continuous artistic traditions in the world. Painting in the traditional style is known today in Chinese as , meaning "national painting" or "native painting", as opposed to Western styles of art which b ...

and the boldness found in contemporary American art.

Art

He has received several awards in the United States and El Salvador. His work has been shown in numerous exhibitions across the U.S., as well as in El Salvador at the Museo Nacional de Antropología Dr. David J. Guzmán, and in

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

, and has been featured on a

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

of El Salvador. In 2015, one of his paintings was selected for the ''Designed to Recycle'' public art program in Washington, DC. In 2021 he was one of the artists invited to

The Phillips Collection The Phillips Collection is an art museum founded by Duncan Phillips and Marjorie Acker Phillips in 1921 as the Phillips Memorial Gallery located in the Dupont Circle neighborhood of Washington, D.C. Phillips was the grandson of James H. Laughli ...

's juried invitational, ''

Inside Outside, Upside Down ''Inside Outside, Upside Down'' was an invitational art exhibition held from July 17 to September 12, 2021, at The Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C., as part of the museum's centennial celebration exhibitions. Jurors This exhibition was a ...

'', exhibition, a show that was described by

The Washington City Paper The ''Washington City Paper'' is a United States, U.S. alternative weekly newspaper serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area since 1981. The ''City Paper'' is distributed on Thursdays; its average circulation in 2006 was 85,588. The paper ...

art critic as forcing "us to remember a time that left us 'confused, battered, and disoriented' through the eyes of 64 D.C.-area artists." Shi's work is in the permanent collection of the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

and the

Inter-American Development Bank The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB or IADB) is an international development finance institution headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States of America. It serves as one of the leading sources of development financing for the countri ...

, both in Washington, D.C.

Exhibitions

* 2009 - "Fusion: American Classics Meet Latin American Art", The Biggs Museum of American Art * 2009 -

Artomatic Artomatic is a multi-week, multimedia arts event held in the Washington metropolitan area of the United States. It was founded by Washington, D.C. artist and arts activist George Koch. The non-juried, open event has provided a forum for artists of ...

2009 * 2010 - "Visions of Dignity", The Biggs Museum of American Art * 2013 - "Herencia: Una fusión de colores, figuras y texturas",

Universidad Ana G. Méndez Universidad (Spanish for "university") may refer to: Places * Universidad, San Juan, Puerto Rico * Universidad (Madrid) Football clubs * Universidad SC, a Guatemalan football club that represents the Universidad de San Carlos de Guatemala ...

exhibition,

Wheaton, Maryland Wheaton is a census-designated place in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States, situated north of Washington, D.C., and northwest of downtown Silver Spring. Wheaton takes its name from Frank Wheaton (1833–1903), a career officer in the Uni ...

*2017 - "Inalienable Truths", George Washington University, Washington, DC *2018 - "Gateways / Portales", Smithsonian Anacostia Community Museum, Washington, DC

References

External links

Nicolas F. Shi
official website * 21st-century American painters Living people Painters from Washington, D.C. Oklahoma State University alumni American people of Salvadoran descent American people of Chinese descent American male painters Salvadoran artists Year of birth missing (living people) {{WashingtonDC-stub