Throughout a lifetime of artistic achievements, Contemporary artist, Patricia Nix has positioned herself as a keen protagonist in the development of late 20th century painting and drawing in America. Today, Patricia Nix has fast become one of the hottest, collectible artists in the contemporary art market.

Through the evolution of her art -- from her acclaimed box constructions, totems, collage works, figurative paintings, unique "Handkerchief" and "Trellis" series to her exquisite floral studies -- Patricia Nix has actualized a lifetime exploration and noteworthy accomplishments.

Over the decades, Nix's work has exhibited in the company of other Contemporary Masters including: David Hockney, Willem DeKooning, Roy Lichtenstein, Andy Warhol, Joseph Cornell, Louise Nevelson and Alfonso Ossario.

In 1992, Patricia Nix was elected to the National Academy of Design in New York City earning recognition as one of the top 100 oil painters in the nation. Two years later, the artist's work was awarded the Gold Medal - Federation International Culterelle Feminine in Paris, France. Nix's work has been acquired by the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. as well as numerous other national museums and international private and public collections.

Much of the mastery of Nix's work lies in her unique approach to painting. For each new canvas, Nix creates a textural, abstract "under painting" comprised of acrylic paint, tissue paper and thick layers of gesso sealed with acrylic medium in order to "stabilize" the composition. According to the artist, "it is the under painting that creates the resulting 'chance juxtapositions' of color and form which ultimately dictate the visual images that emerge in the final painting". Nix's insistence on using oil pigments over her acrylic "under paintings" and her natural ability to work with color create a resonance and richness unique to her work. The resulting layers of various mediums giver her work a three dimensional quality reflective of her propinquity for composition.

The apparent mastery of Nix's techniques and chosen mediums are what the artist claims to be "the result of 1000 accidents". "It's an intuitive process guided by years of experience in which one thing simply leads to another." Nix describes her artistic process as unconscious rather than deliberate, many times giving most of the credit to "magic". The result: brilliantly colored, highly personal and powerful images that have been sought after by the most discriminating collectors worldwide.

Today, Patricia Nix is enjoying a level of commercial success only imagined by most contemporary artists. Her original paintings have commanded price points in excess of $70,000 while the artist enjoys the fruits of an internationally successful limited edition print program as well.

Nix's work has been reviewed by some of the most respected art publications and her imagery has been chosen to represent contemporary ideologies across the globe. Her painting "The Third Lord of Windsor Playing Checkers and Chess" was featured on the Random House book "Family . . . American Writers Remember Their Own", a compilation of essays by some of America's most esteemed writers. In August of 1997, Nix's painting "Santa Rosa" was selected to be featured on the back of the "The Reader's Digest."

Currently, Patricia Nix resides in New York City. She also enjoys a second home in Chateau Gontier, France. The artist has been approached by some of the most respected art schools in the country (Parsons, Rhode Island School of Design, Louisiana State University and University of Colorado in Boulder, to name a few) in an attempt to persuade her to share her artistic mastery with future artists. She prefers, instead to remain consumed in the development of her own work. As the artist states, "Maybe when I quit having my own ideas, I will teach, but I don't that will ever happen."