About the Artist
Nico Sakaki (they/them) is a queer, non-binary abstract artist and writer living on the traditional, unceded land of the Kanien'kehá:ka Nation—known as Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. With a background in English Literature from the University of British Columbia, Nico’s creative journey began as a writer, weaving stories through prose and poetry. Over time, this love of storytelling and worldbuilding expanded into the visual realm, where they create abstract cartographic works that explore inner landscapes and imagined terrains.
A self-taught artist, Nico has honed their skills through dedicated exploration of abstract watercolour and acrylic painting. Their work reflects a love of experimentation and a fascination with the interplay of colour, texture, and form.
When not painting or writing, Nico enjoys reading speculative fiction and fantasy, listening to music on long walks, and crafting haikus and black-out poetry. They are also an aspiring novelist who dreams of building new worlds across mediums.
My Art Story
I create abstract maps and inner landscape paintings full of magic, movement, and colour. A lifelong fantasy lover, my work has a fantastical and dreamy quality to it, incorporating elements such as line work, gestural markings, metallics, and organic forms. I see each painting as an opportunity to build a unique world, a portal into another universe—similar to the ones I grew up yearning to be a part of.
Long before I uncovered my passion for abstract art, my creative journey began solely as a writer, and my love of language influences my visual artwork.. Whether it is through prose, poetry, colours, or shapes, I am a storyteller. It is how I seek to understand and engage with a chaotic world—the seen and the unseen. The in-between.
As a shy, anxious, and neurodivergent child who often struggled with communication, discovering my love of writing was like discovering a new language—one that came far more naturally to me than speaking. It allowed me to create and escape into lands where I found acceptance and understanding. Discovering my passion for art in my late twenties was a similar experience, like I had been gifted a new language to express myself. Creating abstract art always feels both like coming home and going off on an adventure—finding peace in my own organized chaos.
Art has offered me a new way of seeing the world, and another way to allow my creativity to burst forth. It opened up my world even more so when I started to use art as a means of connection—to myself, to others, and the earth—rather than avoidance. It is this desire for connection, a need to reconnect with a sense of wonder, that fuels my creative practice.
My approach to art-making is intuitive and emotion-driven; experiment and play are a vital part of my creative process. While I love experimenting with and combining different mediums and techniques, I am most often drawn to watercolour. I love the magical quality that comes from the water and pigment interacting—learning how to guide these two elements rather than control them. I often make use of iridescent mediums, acrylic paint and brush pen layered on top, and techniques such as scumbling and creating intentional blooms— things typically seen as “mistakes.”
Much of my work deals with the balance (and sometimes tension) of opposites—control and surrender. Flow and structure. Movement and calm. Light and shadows. Adventure and safety. This exploration reflects my own healing journey in learning to embrace both the dark and the light. It also draws on my fantasy genre influences. What happens when we venture into the unknown, into a world where our beliefs are challenged and the walls we had built up dividing the real and unreal are broken down?
Through this breakdown of binaries, my art evokes curiosity, taking you on a journey though a landscape of possibility, bound only by your imagination. I hope that the worlds I create offer you the same acceptance and understanding that they have given me.