Red & Blue Iris Print

Abstract artist Nicholas Thompson has been drawing, doodling and playing the piano for as long as he can remember. Nick is an architectural artist turned digital fine artist creating unique and daring artwork. Brilliant colors in great abstract forms start as exquisite photographs that are then digitally altered to express his ultimate artistic vision. Originally trained as an illustrator at the prestigious Rhode Island School of Design, Nick’s lifelong passion for art was fueled by an upbringing and early career that most artists could only dream of. As the son of AIA Gold Medal Architect and Harvard professor, Benjamin C. Thompson, life was unconventional in the family’s Harvard Square home as important clients or photography crews from publications (such as Look and Life magazine) were often expected at the house. Nick experienced his first brush with national exposure when his father hung his latest painting on a prominent wall just before one of these crews arrived. The sheer joy and sense of accomplishment was a life changing experience for a 16 year-old Nick. Nick was gifted with countless opportunities to mingle with renown architects, designers, celebrities and dignitaries such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, Steve Jobs, Julia Child, Walter Gropius (founder of the Bauhaus School), and Armi Ratia (founder of the Finnish textile and clothing company, Marimekko Oy). For years, Nick even acted as a whaler and sunfish keeper for his neighbor, legendary author Kurt Vonnegut of Slaughterhouse-Five. Many life changing encounters also occurred while working at his father’s groundbreaking lifestyle retail store, Design Research, in Cambridge, Massachusetts. During this time, Nick struck up a friendship with Armi, and her artistic presence and use of bold, bright graphic textile prints heavily influenced Nick’s artistic style, leading to his eventual success as an architectural artist. Nick’s Digital Paintings. Worldwide Copyright ©