Nicholas des Cognets was raised in a small town in western Massachusetts and received a BFA in sculpture from the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He now lives in Richmond, Virginia where he recently received his MFA in Sculpture from the Virginia Commonwealth University. He has shown work extensively in both solo and group exhibits, including recent shows in New York, Washington DC, and Los Angeles.

Giving form to the relationship between nature and human perception is the core concern of my practice. I wish to share the profound experience that I sense is lying between these two concepts. I have found that this experience usually ends in disappointment, even when using the direct language of objects. But, there are some strategies of making that might edge a bit closer to my goal than others. I often leave an object unfinished, the end a little loose, a little unresolved. I like to set up a situation which points toward a certain event. But maybe that event never happens, or it happens too slowly for a viewer to fully experience. The viewer is then made to construct the event in his or her mind. If I do a good job of making an engaging object/situation, the viewer pictures what might have been a profound experience. Although this is not an authentic experience of the profound, only an imitated one, it is the best I can do with my blunt and clumsy tools. I point in a direction of interest and hope for the best.