Nina Tichava’s work is about relationships - relationships between materials, between forms, between the viewer and the artwork. Through a layering process developed over decades that integrates painting and printmaking techniques, Tichava weaves together geometry, texture, color, and pattern. Elegant and refined, Tichava’s compositions are built of complex layers, many of which are over-painted and concealed.

While her work is abstract, Tichava is drawing on botanical and architectural forms for inspiration. As artists do, she is absorbing the world around her and integrating that into her compositions. One of the hallmarks of Tichava’s work are her meticulously hand-applied paint beads - thousands of tiny droplets of paint painstakingly applied to create screens and patterns. The resulting paintings are intricate and deeply worked while simultaneously effortless and flowing: gradients of color cascade, circular forms intersect, and linear patterns provide grounding.