The show is up from June 7 through August 2, 2015 and, there is a Members Only Exhibition Preview on Friday, June 5 from 5–7pm.
Head over to the Danforth website for more information and a complete list of artists.
The show is up from June 7 through August 2, 2015 and, there is a Members Only Exhibition Preview on Friday, June 5 from 5–7pm.
Head over to the Danforth website for more information and a complete list of artists.
Immortality & Vulnerability is a collaborative effort between co-curators Didi Menendez and Sergio Gomez (who runs the gallery at the Zhou B Art Center, along with his own space 33 Contemporary), and the artists involved. The way they tell it, Sergio came up with the concept, As luck would have it, this meshed with a new series that Didi had been discussing with artist Nadine Robbins.
See Nadine’s explanation of this piece here.
“Double Gulp” by Nadine RobbinsThe title Immortality and Vulnerability was given to all the invited artists about one year in advance. Artists and poets were selected from across the country to participate. Each artist and poet was asked to respond to this theme from their own point of view and with their own visual language and writing style. The ideas of Immortality and Vulnerability have been part of the human experience for millennia and have been subjects of exploration by numerous artists throughout time.
I don’t want to give too much away, because the show looks great and I want you to check out the magazine to see it all, but here are a couple more teasers:
Cesar Conde‘s piece for Immortality & Vulnerability
Victoria Selbach‘s piece for Immortality & VulnerabilityRecently, I finished a piece that I have been keeping under wraps a bit longer than normal. I think I have mentioned before that this piece is headed to Florida for a show organized by Victoria Selbach for Poets and Artists Magazine, that will be held at Sirona Fine Art this February. I am working on framing and packing the piece this week and I wanted to talk a little about my process behind making the painting. If you can’t sit through a little art talk, feel free skip to the end and just get the details about the show.
It is no secret that what separates bad art (and mediocre art) from the good stuff is often (always?) some element of suffering. Just like riding a roller coaster, a song that tells the story of pain that we can relate to (or glamorizes pain that we will never feel) lights up our brains in the most pleasurable ways. Something about facing suffering, in a controlled manner, is just extremely satisfying. I won’t pretend to understand why this is, but if you have ever faced two similar works of art and tried to understand why one makes an impact, while the other falls flat, this is usually a big part of the answer. Good artists have a (sometime unconscious) fundamental understanding of this and that is where “the rules” come into play.
First off, it should go without saying but I am going to say it anyway, good artists are good at making art. Seriously. I am going to go out on a limb and just say that every good artist has gotten to a point in their art making where making art got fairly easy. They got to a certain level of technical proficiency, they started to understand the aesthetics of their particular artistic language, whatever… making art started to become second nature. This is where “the rules” come into play.
If good art is about allowing people to safely suffer, to face difficult subjects, and it is coming out easily, you have a problem, you are not pushing hard enough, and the final product (art) is not going to be effective. If you do not feel anything when you make it, people are not going to feel anything when they look at/interact with your art. Hobbyists enjoy making art, artists work hard. When making art starts getting easy, when there is not enough suffering in the studio anymore, artists start creating barriers for themselves — they invent rules for their art work and process to follow. Ultimately, understanding the rules that an artist has set for the creation of the art can reveal a lot about the final piece.
Are you still with me? Am I completely wrong here? If you are an artist, do you not work within a set of (ever tightening) regulations?
As I was working on the piece that I would ultimately decide to send to this show, I was posting a lot of images of my progress on my website, on Instagram, on Facebook, and I got a lot of interesting feedback. Mostly, it could be separated into two distinct groupings:
The people that think my paintings are kind of weird (in a good way) thought I had pushed it too far towards realism, therefore I had created a somewhat less interesting piece.
The people that think I am a pretty good realistic painter thought this was a step forward in my ability to paint things that look like the thing I am painting, and therefore this was a more interesting piece.
In my mind, both of these groups of people are missing something. I am not intending to paint people as entirely weird caricatures, I am not trying to accurately render things to the best of my ability. What I am trying to do is create interesting paintings that communicate something, while working within my own set of artistic rules, and there is one rule that all my pieces follow. One rule that really defines the look of my paintings, even this one.
If there is one thing that really makes painting images worthwhile in a world where photography is so prevalent, it is the act of painting itself. The fact that some foolish human took the time to painstakingly create an image, gives paintings a weight that photography can not achieve. With that in mind, I go out of my way to make my paintings as labor intensive as possible. I use a small brush and mix every stroke individually. I spend more time than is necessary on pieces and try to leave obvious evidence of this in the finished product. I want to push the fact that some idiot human (that’s me) just spent a month creating something that a camera could have done better in 5 minutes. Painting this way is not the right way to do it, it does not produce the most realistic results, it distorts colors and adds strange textures, it complicates things. If I was more successful, this is the part where I would make a stink about doing it all myself and not using studio assistants, but I think at this point in my career that goes without saying.
In this piece, I have toned down the textures that are normally created by working this way, and people seem to have noticed. I did this so that other distortions could take the stage. I wanted the piece to feel unstable. The skin is not as textured and the colors are more even, but I tried to play with cool and warm areas within the body, allowing some parts to push back into the blues of the background and then shifted the lines of the blanket so the figure felt as though it may also be in danger of falling forward. I wanted the figure to feel pushed back into a corner, while still maintaining a strong gaze toward the viewer. There are a lot of small things happening in a simple composition and allowing too much texture in the skin made the piece feel overly busy.
The painting is being sent off to Florida, so be sure to check out the show if you are in the area, or in Poets and Artists Magazine, if you are not. The show has an amazing array of artists, all with a unique way of looking at women in their art. Best of all, it gives me a good excuse to get out of frozen Boston and work on my sunburn in Miami.
If you want to join me there, check out the opening reception event on Facebook.
A friend of mine recently asked me to hang some pieces in the lobby gallery at the FP3 building in Fort Point. The room is beautiful and, in the back opens up into a large space with 20 foot ceilings, which makes it the perfect place to hang some of my larger paintings. I am always surprised at how nice the paintings look when they get out of the studio and into a proper environment and this is no exception. The space really gives the paintings some room to breath and, its great to see the new 5’x7′ large piece in a space that makes its scale work.
In any case, they are holding a little opening reception this Thursday from 6-8 (I hear there may be tasty snacks). So, if you are around Boston, come on out, say hello and check it out.
Nick Ward’s Distorted Memories
Opening Thursday November 14th 6-8pm
FP3, 346 Congress Street Boston, MA
https://www.facebook.com/events/1378107369099991/
It has been an exciting summer at my studio, which has taken its toll on my artwork. I got married, did some traveling, enjoyed the small window of warm weather that Boston offers and now, I am refreshed, ready to hit the ground running in the lead up to Fall. With that in mind, its time for a summertime wrap-up post.
First things first, crucial thanks to a few people that helped make the wedding great. Nathan Fried-Lipski took amazing photographs of the event. Not only did he risk life and limb by laying down in the middle of Atlantic Ave (a very busy three lane road for those of you not familiar with Boston) to get the shot he wanted, he also went above and beyond the call of duty by helping keep Margaux sane and happy during the days stressful moments. I can not recommend him enough, everyone should head straight to his blog to take a look at a few photos from the day, and then go ahead and like his page on Facebook. Seriously, he is a great guy and a talented photographer.
Next up, Eli at Alabaster and Chess. He does custom tailored suits for a good price and had me looking better than I probably ever will again. Beyond that, he was also just a really great guy and super easy to do business with, which counts for a lot in my book.
If you want to live vicariously, you can check out some photos from my travels by following me on Instagram.
Okay. On to some art related news. I know I have been talking a lot about the Street Diamonds show but, that’s because it is good. Silva Naci pulled together a nice mix of artists and it really is worth seeing. You’ve already missed the closing party but there is still time to see the show. It will be up through September 7th so, head out to Fourth Wall Project and have a look.
Speaking of the Just Platinum Rings and Street Diamonds closing party, I am told ALLDAYEVERYDAY was there shooting video for an upcoming Cheryl Dunn documentary. It should come as no surprise that I happily ride the coattails of those above me so, I am interested to see what they do with the video they took Saturday night. Keep your eyes open for that and, maybe I will be in the background of some shots, lurking awkwardly behind people, trying to gauge their interest in my paintings.
On to some paintings. I have done a little editing on this piece and plan on dropping it off at Sloane Merrill Gallery tomorrow (there is a good change that a couple new pieces will follow closely behind). I really loved the idea of consistent using four panels for this entire series of paintings but, I have just never thought it worked right for this particular piece. So I have dropped one. It is now a triptych and, since Sloane Merrill is interested in selling paintings, they have convinced me to allow them to split up the series. I still hope to keep all three together but, if you have had your heart set on a single panel from this painting (I know there are some of you out there), this is your chance. Head over to the gallery before I change my mind…
And finally, here is a quick update on my latest, large scale, piece. I lost my way a little bit with this one but, the solution has finally come to me. There will be some moderate editing done on this piece—don’t get used to her red hair—but, it is still turning out to be a pretty good looking painting. Stay tuned for the completed image and, enjoy the final days of summer.
A few days ago I dropped by Fourth Wall Project to take a sneak peak of the Street Diamonds show. The gallery was still awaiting the arrival of Faring Purth to install one of her large paintings in front but, the show was already looking great. I don’t want to give too much away but, there is one piece that I just can’t keep under my hat.
The piece is Silas Finch’s fifteen foot tall sculpture of a gown created from a discarded vintage parachute. The piece is so simple that I am having a hard time finding the right words to describe it but the visual effect is amazing. The piece as a sculpture alone is wonderful. Then he fits the dress to an actual living breathing (not 15′ tall) model and Heather McGrath uses it as the basis for a sensational series of photographs. Again, I don’t want to give away too much but, since Liz at Flux-Boston already posted this image, I will share it as well:
In any case, as much as it pains me to be the least famous artist in the room–showing pieces that are not even the biggest, brightest, or shiniest things there–this show is not to be missed.
132 Brookline Ave, Boston
Aug 10 – Sept 7th
Collector Reception Aug 10 (7-9pm)
Closing Reception Aug 24(7-9pm)
I briefly mentioned in the last post that I am participating in the next show at Fourth Wall Project which is curated by my friend Silvi Naci. Fourth Wall is always putting on good shows and making waves in the calm pool that is the Boston art scene so, I am pretty excited to be a part of this. The show will be up from August 10th through September 7th with a closing reception on August 24th.
Curated by Silvi Naci, Street Diamonds II reflects on areas of street culture in relationship to personal triumphs and battles according to Diamond and Diamond. Utilizing various techniques from cut-out paper, murals, painting, photography and sculpture, each artists provides a different entry way into their progression to make an impact in the world as a whole.
Fourth Wall Project is located at 132 Brookline Ave in Boston (near Fenway). It is open from 1-6PM on Wednesday through Friday and 1-5PM on Sundays.
I just completed a new piece for a show at Sloane Merrill Gallery. The show opens next Friday, April 12th and there will be an opening reception at the gallery from 6:30-9:00pm. Check out the new piece and then see the official announcement below for more details on the show.
The collaborative exhibition highlights the figure as an important subject in our modern world — one that is both beautiful and a struggle to capture. The theme of the show marries the often sacred and sensual use of the human back to represent form with the more abstract concept of what it means to be “back to back”. The participating figurative artists explored this theme in oils and their visual experiences will be shared at the exhibition opening.
Two of my favorites from the show: Tom Grady, ‘Spine’ and Damon Lehrer’s keekaroo high chair reviews, ‘Green Chair Nude’
Back to Back has two distinct components — one half is an invitational and the other is juried. Invitational artists include: Damon Lehrer, Jon Nix, Leo Mancini-Hresko, Nick Ward, Rick Berry, Tony Apesos, Gene Dorgan, Paul Goodnight, Brett Gamache, Jim Burke, Freda Nemirovsky, Britt Snyder, Ann Hirsch, Tom Grady, Janet Monafo, Paul Rahilly, & Kelly Carmody.
Jurors are Damon Lehrer of BFAC, Liz Devlin of FLUX. Boston, Jon Nix, Fr. Iain MacLellan of Saint Anselm College, and Ali Ringenburg of Sloane Merrill Gallery.
More information at: http://sloanemerrillgallery.com/exhibitions/2013/1/29/back-to-back
Join the event on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/events/146883525483652/
It has been a busy winter in my studio, I have been working on a new piece to send out to the From Motion To Stillness
show in Chicago, I have a few secret projects in the works and coming up first, a solo show at The Distillery Gallery.
The show will feature all my new paintings and, a few of my favorite older pieces. Opening on Thursday, January 24th so, come on out to the party, enjoy a cold Narragansett Beer and see the paintings.
Join the event page on Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/events/543876695624660
Read the official press release below.
Originally from a small town near Portland, Oregon, Ward has been a resident of The Distillery since 2007. The artist was awarded an Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation grant for painting in 2012, allowing him more time to focus on a growing body of work featuring portraits of everyday people from his life as models. Although quite realistic from afar, Ward’s paintings deliberately avoid being traditional “realism”. By allowing unfinished abstraction to exist in areas needing less attention while intentionally highlighting natural human flaws, especially in skin tone, the often large-format pieces offer a counterpoint to the retouched beauty we are offered everyday in our media consumption.
Please join us for an opening reception with the artist on January 24th, from 7-9pm at The Distillery Gallery, 516 East 2nd Street, Boston.
I have managed to get myself invited to a few shows coming up, that are both in spaces I have never shown before. First, From Motion to Stillness at Zhou B Art Center in Chicago, and now The BIG BAD at Nave Gallery in Somerville. Scroll down for more info on this show and be sure to help spread the word by joining the Facebook event page.
