Some work by David Nicholls, an artist based in Wellington, New Zealand  

Pumice Head with Skyscraper Cocoon

Hot Love

Diamond-head Friends 

Home of Wilderness

(some sold under the name David Nicol or Nichol)

I try to embody an ecosystem in the form or structure of my paintings, with very distinct parts forming a meaningful whole with mutually reinforcing parts. I idealize ecology in the structure of the paintings, emphasizing symbiosis, cooperation, diversity, harmony as the aspects worth learning from in civilization. Parasitism, predation, domination, disease, competition and chaos, inescapable parts of all true ecosystems, are not embodied in the composition or structure of the paintings, although they may be themes dealt with in the content of some images.   

This grainy photo of a found object assemblage which no longer exits, done in Dan Engelke's sculpture course at Purdue University, Indiana, c.1984, when I was around 20. This was the first time I combined diverse, previously completely unrelated parts to make a harmonious whole, influencing all my later painting. It is hard to make out a flower made of marshmallows and an egg on a pillow at the top centre. Below it a bed of nails with mouse traps containing sweets as bait, on an astro turf background. It depicted the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen, spoke to once and never saw her again.

Still probably my favorite piece.