HP What is the first thing you do in the morning?
NS I start my day by making coffee. I also like doing small mental exercises as I wake up, like word games, and recently I’ve been using Duolingo to study other languages. I usually put on some music and set the rhythm of the day before heading to the studio.
HP Describe where you produce your work, and why you chose that space.
NS I work in a studio located in a house in São Paulo, which for some time I shared with the artists Felipa Queiroz and Mariani Pessoa. The space also functioned as a site for experimentation and independent projects, which has significantly shaped my practice.
My studio space itself is small and located at the back of the house. I often refer jokingly to it as a “cave” because it’s a more secluded space, where I accumulate images and some works, (some in progress, some finished) on the walls. While it can feel dense and sometimes slightly overwhelming, it is also a refuge within the intensity of the city.
Nicholas Steinmetz’ Studio. 2026
HP Where do you go to feel energised creatively?
NS São Paulo is a city with a very rich contemporary art scene, and much of my creative energy comes from being in contact with exhibitions, images, and the work of other artists. Beyond that, what really energises me is exchange through conversations and encounters where there is some kind of intellectual synergy.
HP If you could choose one word to describe your work, what would it be?
NS Montage. My work is built from an accumulation of visual references of bodies, rituals, animals, and elements from nature, which I reorganise. Through drawing and painting, these images are articulated into compositions where forms overlap, transform, and generate new relationships and meaning.
HP What do you do when you need to escape the studio and reset your mind?
NS Spending time with friends, watching a good film, or playing video games usually works as a reset. I’m also a big fan of a good nap after lunch.
Nicholas Steinmetz’ Studio. 2026
HP What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?
NS To stand by my own choices and desires and to take responsibility for them.
HP If you weren’t an artist what would you do?
NS It’s hard for me to imagine that. Even in any other context, I believe I would find a way to continue being an artist, it really shapes how I relate to the world.
HP What is one thing you couldn’t live without in your studio?
NS Paper, pencils, and music. Drawing is the foundation of my process, and music helps me with the rhythm of the work in the studio. In every studio space I’ve ever had, I always had those things around me.
Nicholas Steinmetz’ Studio. 2026
HP What book are you reading right now?
NS I recently finished We do Not Part by Han Kang and at the same time, I’ve been slowly reading Atlas, or the Anxious Gay Science by Georges Didi-Huberman, but I’m looking forward to starting a new romance book.
HP What is the best decision you have made?
NS I think that it relates a lot with the question about the best advice I’ve ever been given… and it’s the decision of deciding to commit a lot to painting and to a studio practice.