Nigel Henri - Artist

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Biography

Nigel Leonard Henri was born in June 1967 on the island of Mahé in Seychelles, where he lives today with his wife Kerstin and daughter Stefania.

Henri's artistic talent was from an early age encouraged by his family and teachers. After leaving school he attended Seychelles Polytechnic where he studied art and graphic design. In 1989, he won a scholarship to study overseas at the University of Sussex in Brighton, England. He graduated with a BA in Education, specialising in art.

Returning to Seychelles in 1992, Henri took up a teaching post at the Polytechnic, with responsibility for the Graphics Department. In 1999, he transferred to the Ministry of Youth and Culture where he was responsible for the Production Department, creating publicity materials for every aspect of the Ministry's Programme.

Throughout this period Henri continued to paint, building his portfolio and exhibiting in Seychelles and internationally. Henri is the first Seychellois International Biennial prize-winner. At the same time he formed the Association for Visual Arts, an organisation with over 120 members that aimed to develop Seychelles' visual artists, mount local and international exhibitions, and run training workshops. Henri chaired the Association for ten years. In 1999 he co-founded CENAC, a professional organisation for artists in Seychelles.

In 2002 Henri set up his own graphic design consultancy. From corporate branding to poster design, his creative solutions can be seen in a wide range of publicity materials across Seychelles. Most importantly, the freedom of self-employment has allowed Henri to realise his goal of spending more time on his art.

The artist at work

Henri is an artist of Seychelles. Inspired from an early age by his environment and his experiences, Henri's eye for colour and form captures and conveys the richness of specific aspects of Creole culture and island life.

Working out of his studio high on the hillside above the small community of Beau Vallon, he attracts interest from visitors of all nationalities. Henri's paintings now hang in private collections all over the world. In Seychelles, his art is encountered everywhere. It is seen by visitors arriving at the airport, by customers queuing at the bank, and by tourists resting in hotels. He is regularly commissioned by business and industry for special projects, including a promotional calendar for Seychelles Breweries Ltd in 2004, and representing the story of Seychelles' tuna fishing industry.

Henri's unique, highly colorful and often heavily textured style is very much typical of Seychelles' art scene, but distinctive. Working mainly in the flexible media of acrylic, ink and pastel, he also deploys painting techniques like heavy splash paint, and uses unconventional materials such as glue and masking fluid to achieve the special effects that convey depth, mood and movement in his underwater scenes. In his paintings of daily life, his use of bold blocks of contrasting colour connects the viewer to the vibrancy of Seychelles' society. The influence of graphic design is also obvious in some of his experimental works, where he makes use of a range of different typefaces.

Working with unconventional tools such as scrapers, toothbrushes, rollers of different sizes, and even pieces of wood adds an experimental dimension to the creative process for Henri. He works mainly on canvas, but enjoys exploring the different effects of textured surfaces such as embossed wallpaper and fiberglass. This search for an unusual dimension extends to his striking panel works, where underwater scenes are depicted across a series of canvases.

All of Henri's paintings originate on one canvas - there are no preliminary sketches, only single works. Unrestricted by time or convention, the flow of creative inspiration can be immediate, or develop over weeks and even months. All the paintings wrap around the mount so that, unframed, the work can be viewed from any angle. The Henri portfolio is extensive and can be consider as Seychelles’ international leading artist. His works are in collections of  Kings, Presidents and celebrities like Leonardo de Caprio – from the United Nations, ADB Tunisia, USA, France, Germany, Canada, UK, Russia, Austria, Australia, Indonesia, Martinique, Argentina, Brazil, Belgium, Switzerland, South Africa, Iceland, Portugal, Sweden, U.A.E, Tunisia, Italy and Seychelles to name a few.