Nickolas Mohanna

Nickolas Mohanna is an American artist and composer based in New York. His interdisciplinary practice utilizes a variety of media to explore and blur the borders between music, sound art, video and drawing. Within his compositions there is a "tendency of sculpting and orchestrating a minimal array of sounds into sonically rich and spacious atmospheres." Most of the sounds are sourced from local environments. While certain tracks "bury melodies in multiple layers of distortion to reveal their latent chromatic richness through gradually mutating textural contrast." And the "consistent tone makes it all flow together like raindrops forming a lake." In a Village Voice interview, he remarks that his aim is to create an "immersive stereo space where the sound would be reduced to its rawest form." In addition to these works, he has also published a number of artists' books which have served as visual accompaniments, conceptual ideas, or graphic scores to his sonic practice on the imprint Run/Off; which he founded in 2014. Mohanna attended San Francisco State University and went to the University of California, Davis for an MFA in Art Studio. While there he took courses with Bob Ostertag, Annabeth Rosen, Douglas Kahn, and Wayne Thiebaud.

Discography

 * Hunting Horns Abandon Ship Records, Ltd. CD 2008.


 * In Embers Stunned Records, Ltd. CD 2009.


 * The Relative Middle Small Doses, Ltd. CD 2009.


 * Birth To A Point Blackest Rainbow, Ltd. CD. 2009.


 * Optics Slow Flow Rec, Ltd. CD 2010.


 * Transmission Hue Low Point, Ltd. CD 2010.


 * Reflectors Preservation, Ltd. CD 2011.


 * Parallax View Low Point, Ltd LP. 2013


 * Control Group Metaphysical Circuits, Ltd Tape/DL. 2013


 * Phase Line Run/Off Editions & WFMU Free Music Archive, Digital/CD. 2015


 * Mantis Preservation, Ltd Tape/DL. 2016


 * Chroma Karlrecords, Ltd LP. 2017


 * Karl Marx's 200th Karlrecords, Ltd Compilation CD. 2018


 * Smoke Aagoo Records, Ltd LP. 2019


 * Various – The Wire Tapper 51 The Wire Tapper, CD. 2019


 * Throwing The Chain Longform Editions, File, FLAC. 2019


 * Parakustiks Karlrecords, Compilation. 2020


 * Nerve Plexus Dadaist Tapes, Ltd. Tape/DL, Album, 2021


 * Sight Drawings Run/Off, Ltd. LP/DL, Album, 2022


 * Double Pendulum Run/Off, Ltd. LP/DL, MP3, Album, 2023

Books / Prints

 * Theater. France: Kaugummi, 2010.
 * Particles Brooklyn, New York: Medium Rare, 2010.
 *  France: Lendroit éditions, 2011. Offset poster publication. Edition of 1000.
 *   France: Lendroit éditions, 2011. ISBN 978-2-917427-11-8.
 * Floodlights Brooklyn, New York: Oso Press, 2012.
 * Boundaries  Los Angeles, CA: The Ice Plant, 2012. Edition of 100.
 * LAND New York, New York: Run/Off Editions, 2015. ISBN 978-1-63415-661-5.
 * Heat Death  France: Lendroit éditions, 2017. ISBN 978-2-37751-005-4.
 * Spin Group New York, New York: Run/Off Editions, 2021. ISBN 978-1-64871-848-9.
 * Broken Chords New York, New York: Run/Off Editions, 2023. ISBN 979-8-88992-023-6

Film / Video
His video and film work have been used in both gallery installations and for live sound performances; using a range of computer animation, found video, or appropriated footage. Many of them have mirrored various sound compositions by using collage or distortion to explore electronic & acoustic processes.


 * Ruins, video projection, 16mm film transferred to video, 3:50 min, black/white, sound, 2008
 * Ceremony, video, 5:20 min, color, sound, 2010
 * Elements, 16mm film transferred to video 3:50 min, color, sound, 2011
 * Generator, video projection, 2:00 min, black/white, sound, 2013
 * Passage, video projection, 4:56 min, black/white, sound, 2015
 * Quadrant, video projection, 2:00 min, color, sound, 2017
 * Subsystem, video projection, animation, 6:17 min, black/white, sound, 2018
 * Beam & Column, video projection, 2:00 min, color, sound, 2019

Collections
His artists' books have been archived at the Franklin Furnace Archive, Whitney Museum of American Art, National Gallery of Art, Getty Research Institute, Tate Modern, Museum of Modern Art New York, Los Angeles County Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, New York Public Library (Spencer Collection), Walker Art Center, Museum Ludwig (Cologne), and the Stedelijk Museum.