Biography

Nino Yuniardi is an abstract artist and designer based in Seattle, WA. His work blends spontaneity and structure — intuitive marks layered with thoughtful composition. Each piece is a quiet conversation between movement, color, and memory, inviting viewers to pause and feel something real.

Born in Indonesia, Nino discovered painting at age 14 as a private refuge — a way to explore what he couldn’t always express in words.

That quiet exploration eventually led him into a career in graphic design and user experience, where he spent years shaping visual languages for major tech products in Seattle.

Working on fast timelines and big teams taught him discipline, but painting is where he returns to intuition, curiosity, and play.

In 2018, Nino recommitted to his art practice and began building a body of work that reflects the texture of daily life — layered, imperfect, honest. 

He works primarily with acrylics, pencils, crayons, and pastels, often painting barefoot and rearranging fragments from old sketches to guide his compositions. His approach is organic and rooted in presence, allowing the work to unfold without overthinking.

Nino is the recipient of multiple awards, including 1st Place in the 2020 Art2Life International Juried Art Exhibition, 3rd place in Art Fluent’s 2021 Abstracted Juried Exhibition, and the 2023 Seattle Restored Grant. His work has been featured in publications like Uppercase Magazine, Bold Journey, and Visionary Art Collective, as well as on The Jealous Curator.

He’s been a guest on several creative podcasts and series, including the Art2Life Podcast with Nicholas Wilton (Episode 138), Tap into Your Creativity with Sandra Felemovicius, Artist Conversations with Vickie Marsango, Adele Sypesteyn, Paige’s Podcast, and Jen Tough’s Open Studio.

Nino draws inspiration from food as a metaphor for human connection and differences — for respect, inclusivity, and shared experience. This influence often finds its way into the themes, textures, and titles of his work.

Today, his work lives in collections across the U.S. and beyond. He runs Nino Studio, a gallery space in Seattle’s Pioneer Square, and leads Spice Art Club, an online community where he mentors artists through workshops, monthly challenges, and playful experimentation.

His mission is simple: to help people reconnect with their creative selves — gently, honestly, and with joy.

Because for Nino, art isn’t just something to admire. It’s something that meets you where you are, reminds you of who you are, and invites you to keep going.

STATEMENT

When I create, I embark on a journey of self-reflection. Each painting begins with a question, and through exploration, grows into a narrative; an abstraction of an aspect of life where the materials, colors, and textures become phrases and chapters describing the journey, not just the ending. 

The process is iterative and celebrates the curiosity and imperfection that makes life dynamic. Though each painting documents a personal journey, I invite others to reflect on their own experiences through the work. A continuation of learning and responding to emotions that are calling out to be expressed and interpreted as visual poetry. They are searching for context and creating an underlying story. Embracing differences, tension such as dark and light, the raw and refined, the thick and thin. Multiple layers of materials reveal a journey of discovery.

My work can be about food at the surface level, but underneath it all, it's about human connection and belonging.