Biography

Nini Lion is a painter and sculptor working in the San Francisco Bay Area. Her early figurative works, in pastel, ink, or graphite, use subtle gestures to express emotion, depth, and intensity. While her later abstract paintings focus on color, form, and texture, there is often an echo of the figure in a line or shape. The ceramic sculptures continue her exploration of the body from the inside: its bones and muscles. In her series, “Sylph,” the figure has become mysterious, emerging as the clay is stretched and shaped. These figures suggest elemental forms and are open to multiple interpretations. In her series, “Gyre of Life”,  you see multiple figures, separated yet attached, reaching out to one another. In this series, she explores how we try and sometimes fail to connect with each other, In her latest works, “Pelagic”, there are multiple anonymous figures in symbiotic relationship with their environment. Lines and negative space create a strong sense of movement.

In all of her work, Nini uses color and shape, line and gesture, to animate figures and forms, infusing them with the energy of life.

Nini was born in Dallas, Texas, and educated at Wellesley College and the University of California, Berkeley. Her portraits, abstract paintings, and ceramic sculptures have been exhibited at galleries and other venues in California and throughout the United States. These include The Donna Seager Gallery, Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, Artisans Art Gallery, Dominican University, Wellesley College, and the Sebastopol Center for the Arts.

Nini has served as a board member of the Marin Arts Council,  Artisans Art Gallery, and as a Mill Valley Art Commissioner. Nini’s studio is at Art Works Downtown in San Rafael, CA (www.artworksdowntown.org).