Robert Nicolais
New Mexico landscapes
robertnicolais.com
Painter and woodworker Robert Nicolais discovered El Rito in 1964 and after finishing architecture school returned here to work for pioneer builder Peter van Dresser. Later, he bought property in the area and, as he says, “did my own riff on Henry David Thoreau, building an adobe building.” Nicolais’s paintings reflect his love for the outdoors: “The world is pretty amazing. I don’t paint humans; they are pretty problematic,” he says.