Nikolas Soren Goodich is a biracial native of Los Angeles. His Black grandfather William was the grandson of a previously enslaved preacher from rural Alabama, and his Jewish grandfather, also named William, left Kyiv, Ukraine at the age of six to escape the genocidal pogroms of 1910 to find refuge in New York City. Nikolas has lived in Los Angeles, Toronto, South Dakota, Charlottesville and Richmond, Virginia, Providence, New York City, Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, London, and Berlin. He studied at The Rhode Island School of Design and at The Boston School of the Museum of Fine Arts in the late 80s, the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the late 90s, and he earned his BFA in Painting and Printmaking at Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts in 2019. He’s worked as an art preparator for twenty-seven years at the most prestigious galleries and museums on the east and west coasts. In the 90s and 00s he helped run underground co-operative exhibition spaces and music venues in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Chicago, NYC, and Charlottesville, VA, focused on curatorial diversity. In 2012 after suffering a tragic nightmare decade of substance abuse Nikolas became homeless, forced to sleep on the streets of Los Angeles for over a year. Off the streets since 2014, he is now a decade clean and sober. He’s turned his life around completely. In both his studio and public art practices he focuses on the intersection of social and racial justice, healing toxic behaviors, identity, portraiture, and concepts from critical theory, linguistics, neuroscience, consciousness studies, philosophy, and physics. In November of 2022 TEDx Boston invited him to give a TED talk at their inaugural Planetary Stewardship event at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s famous Media Lab. In 2023 his alma mater Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts had him give an extended version of the talk at The Institute of Contemporary Art museum in Richmond, VA. He was the first alumnus ever to be given that honor. SELECT EXHIBITIONSMuseum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA, Solo Show, Fall 2024Tokyo Metropolitan Art Museum, 23rd Japan International Art ExhibitionStartup Artfair LA, Venice, CA, February 14 -16, Jurors: Peter Frank, Andi CampignoneCalifornia Society of Printmakers, 106th Annual Exhibition, Piedmont Center for the Arts, CA, WinterCorporate & Museum Frame, Twenty-Three New Prints, Richmond, VA, July PUBLIC ART COMMISSIONSJerry Schneiderman, Permanent Installation at Downtown LA loftAmoeba Records, Hollywood, CA, year-long temporary installationCrossroads High School of the Arts and Sciences, Santa Monica, CA, permanent Installation in library PUBLIC SPEAKINGLecture at The Institute of Contemporary Art Museum for Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of the Arts, Richmond, VA, VCU Arts Lecture Series, Nov 2023TED Talk for TEDx Boston Planetary Stewardship Week, Can Luminous Public Art Save Us From Ourselves, Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Media Lab, Boston, MA, Nov 2022 PRESSArtillery Magazine, Nikolas Soren Goodich, Peter Frank, Jan 2024Diversions LA, We Need Mirrors To See Ourselves – Nikolas Soren Goodich Reflects Our Lives, Genie Davis, Dec 2023Office Magazine, Light Up with Nikolas Soren Goodich, Oona Oglesby, Nov 2021Dot Red, Interview: Nikolas Soren Goodich, Aug 2021Whitehot Magazine, Upstream Towards Nikolas Soren Goodich, Mat Gleason, Coagula Curatorial Gallery, Sept 2020RVA Magazine, Veteran Mixed-Media Artist Nikolas Soren Goodich Discusses Returning to VCU & The Impact on His Work, Andrew Goetzinger, Spring 2018Not Random Art: The Contemporary Art Review, Feature: Nikolas Soren Goodich, Summer 2017