Nick Dahlen

Chess Study, 2022,
acrylic on canvas, 105 x 133 inches

Car Splash Study, 2026,
acrylic on canvas, 40 x 30 inches

Pizza Place Study, 2025,
acrylic on canvas, 51 x 74 inches

Biography

Minneapolis-based artist Nick Dahlen. His signature paintings of daily life have appeared in many of our group exhibitions over the years, and now we can devote our full attention to this intriguing artist. From a Giant Pencil Jar to a Trash Cat, Dahlen captures both the texture of city streets and the neighbors who make a neighborhood. The works on canvas feel as honest and unedited as a pencil sketch, and his imagery is familiar to any city-dweller, the strong shadow work pumping the paintings full of volume and ripeness.

Dahlen’s style draws from Surrealists like De Chirico, Cubists like Léger, and Modernists like Tarsila do Amaral. His colors feel retro—think 70s design or Miró palettes—everything slightly yellowed and browned, giving the work a vintage atmosphere. The subjects can feel retro as well: playing chess in the park, pitching a baseball, making pizza—nothing in the scenes clearly marks the 21st century. Given the vitality of the city life depicted, it feels like a magical moment before everyone was on their phones.

The paintings feel improvisational, like jazz—funky, soulful, and unpretentious. In his depictions of regular people the work feels populist and democratic.

Nick Dahlen lives and works in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Recent solo exhibitions include Student of Life at Gallery Commune, Tokyo, and Everyday Weird at Pamplemousse Gallery, Richmond, VA. Alongside painting, Dahlen’s multidisciplinary practice spans printmaking and illustration, with over a decade of international commissions. His work has appeared in The New York Times and on snowboards, books, and album covers.

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