BIO
Nykie Gibbs is a Brooklyn-based, self-taught acrylic painter originally from Nashville, whose work explores the quiet power of resilience, transformation, and the emotional layers of identity. Drawing from her roots in Theatre and Dance along with 15+ years of experience in creative operations, she brings a deeply intuitive, story-driven approach to her practice. Her paintings blend portraiture, abstraction, and symbolism, using bold colors, intricate patterns, and various techniques to give form to what often lives beneath the surface. A former head of Paint Along NYC, where she led expressive art workshops for teams and small groups. Nykie continues to create work that bridges community and introspection, honoring art as both personal ritual and shared emotional language.

STATEMENT
For me, painting is both a visual language and a sanctuary, a place where emotions, memories, and stories are allowed to exist beyond the limitations of words. My work is rooted in themes of resilience, identity, and emotional transformation, especially through the lived experiences of African American women. Each painting begins as layered conversation within myself, an exploration of strength and vulnerability, past and possibility, and extends outward to create space for shared reflection.
My practice blends traditional portraiture with abstract elements like fluid or textured backgrounds, and often includes mandala inspired patterns. Figures sometimes emerge from or dissolve into layers of color, reflecting the ever shifting nature of identity and emotion. I enjoy the use of bold hues and symbolic motifs, with each mark and form carrying emotional or cultural weight.
Lately, I’ve been expanding my visual language by exploring metaphor and how we express the weight of expectation, the fluidity of change, and the tension between past wounds and future hopes. These themes unfold quietly in moments of reflection and release.
At its core, my work is about transformation, the kind that happens in stillness, in the invisible places, in the spaces between what’s been lost and what’s being found. Through each piece, I aim to create moments of resonance and a space where viewers can pause, feel, and find themselves in the ongoing universal story of becoming.

CURRENTLY ON VIEW
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
"Paint The Town Green" - Magnolia Tree Earth Center - Sep 2025
(Brooklyn, NY)
"It's All In Your Perspective" - El Barrio Artspace PS109 - Aug 2025
(Harlem, NY)
"High on Freedom: The Black Power Exhibit" - The Bold Gallery/Dynasty - Jul 2025
(Harlem, NY)
SELECTED PUBLICATIONS
New Visionary Magazine - Issue 13 - Feb 2025
New Visionary Magazine - Issue 14 - May 2025
