Born in Bavaria in 1937, NILS-UDO studied graphic arts, but quickly turned away from painting that he considered artificial. He began to "draw with flowers, paint with clouds and write with water."
From Bavaria, where he works in winter with snow and evergreen berries, to Venezuela, where he finds inspiration in the mangroves, his photographs are sometimes the only trace of a creation that is erased by time. In 1978, he created his first Nest in the Lüneburg Heath and posed in the heart of this elementary structure. This is his only self-portrait to date.
Becoming his favourite theme, the Nest has since given rise to a multitude of mineral and vegetal variations depending on the materials used, from bamboo to wicker, branches, and stones. The artist sometimes places eggs sculpted in ice or marble, as at the Fondation Carmignac in Porquerolles or the Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire.
Since 2004, NILS-UDO has taken up his brushes again and, in parallel to his in-situ installations and photographic work, creates increasingly abstract paintings.
NILS-UDO PAINTING IN AND WITH NATURE