Nicky Hoberman

b. 1967, Cape Town, South Africa

Nicky Hoberman is a contemporary artist known for her striking, large-scale paintings that blur the boundaries between realism and surrealism. Her work often features unsettling depictions of children, merging innocence with a distorted sense of adulthood. This tension is heightened by her unique visual style, where exaggerated proportions and eerie details evoke a dreamlike quality.

Hoberman graduated with a BA in Fine Art from Oxford University before completing an MA in Painting at the Chelsea College of Art and Design in London. Her international career took off in the late 1990s, with her work being exhibited across Europe, the United States, and South Africa.

Drawing from both classical techniques and the aesthetics of photography, Hoberman's paintings explore themes of identity, vulnerability, and social expectations. Her portrayal of children in ambiguous, often disquieting scenarios, reflects the complexities of the human experience and the pressures of societal norms. She skilfully uses the uncanny to challenge viewers, raising questions about memory, gender, and psychological states.

Hoberman's work is held in prestigious collections worldwide and has been featured in numerous exhibitions internationally, notably at institutions such as the Saatchi Gallery in London and the Centre Pompidou in Paris. Through her evocative use of scale and perspective, she remains a prominent voice in contemporary figurative painting.