Sky Deck Gallery, a new gallery space located on the 4th floor of Exhibit at JTown Apartments, will have its grand opening during San Jose Day this Saturday April 6th from 12-6pm. The space, created to showcase and celebrate artists, features an outdoor patio overlooking the valley, with seating areas for guests to take in the view.
Artist Nicholaus James Dalton, also known as Manik, has been a part of Empire Seven Studios since its early days, where he built a music studio and remained a permanent tenant. Dalton decorated his studio with engraved records on the ceiling, kaleidoscope murals on the walls, and artwork inspired through meditation–all created by him. He even picked up spray painting, making some of the coolest street art no one but a chosen few would know. It was there where we started to see Dalton’s determination to pursue the visual arts, exploring many mediums until he landed on combining his tradeskills as a carpenter into his artwork. Over the years, after losing the studio, we parted ways. The irony couldn’t be better suited to presenting his second solo exhibition in the luxury apartment SkyDeck Gallery on the very location of Dalton’s former studio.
Dalton’s workshop, where he works with wood for a living, is also where his art has evolved. The day he discovered building a rig that would spin canvas vertically, he couldn't wait to share his creation. The first series of his paintings were created using spray paints, which he showcased at a solo exhibition. As curators, we encourage; as artists, we challenge ourselves to continue to seek excellence. Dalton has always followed his heart in doing what makes him happy and ultimately standing out from the rest. “Hold The Vision, Peace” is the newest of artworks painted on round custom canvases with an airbrush, where Dalton controls his painting technique and multiplies the use of colors. Nicholaus James Dalton is not the only one painting this motif, but we are witness to his creation being pure in its evolution. More importantly, we believe human connectivity is symbolic and relics are made by channeling energy that can connect us as people, no matter where we are.
“Hold The Vision, Peace”
Please join us to experience new works from Nicholaus James Dalton, aka Manik. Explore colors and combinations of the spectrum, concentrically. Hues are inspired by “Dream Colors” used in Nepalese thangka paintings.
“I manifest this art for the viewer to vibe out in a mediation or a visual hypnosis. Something that can relax and excite. The lines blend and create new visual stimuli.” The vibrations of energy can be felt with these large paintings with hundreds of concentric circles. The physical presence of this art needs to be seen in person for the full effects.
“I have been invited by my good friends at Empire Seven Studios to showcase my second solo art show. This is a personal push in the direction of deep thought and vision. I meditate and do constant blessings, burning copal and palo santo and playing music with my paintings, like a sacred ritual: it’s a vibe. Inspired by the words of a Nepalese thangka painter I befriended years ago, he explained the colors used are considered “Dream Colors” and that I should do that. That’s exactly what I did: I studied the thangka paintings that he gave me and started making my colors. Certain paintings I did are directly influenced by colors used in specific thangkas. A thangka is a Tibetan Buddhist painting usually depicting a Buddhist deity, scene, or mandala.”
-Nicholaus Dalton