Artist Statement:
Shawn Nelson
My painting is my passion and art the seducer. The canvas offers the stage for courtship. Its first four sides set up the stage for our relationship. As I begin my composition, flirting with shapes, setting the stage for courting color, color which I try on, one against another, until the surface develops a voice, a melody of its own. Each piece invites the viewer to participate. If you like abstract work and you are viewing one of my paintings from life, take the time to see the abstract qualities in the composition, the color shapes. If it is an abstract piece, take the time to see how the colors and forms communicate with each other.
In developing my paintings, I am constantly looking for connections of shapes through color to strengthen the piece and to draw the viewer into relationship. My most successful paintings use the alchemy of art to transport you, the viewer, to a new place and to forget the world around you. When you possess a piece of my work, you own hours of my life, immediately the time taken to make each piece. Intrinsically, it is the hours, days, and years that I have observed color in nature, walking and developing a color memory.
Education:
BFA Massachusetts College of Art
Awards & Distinctions:
Cape Cod Art Association, Chatham Creative Art Center, Mass College of Art
Professional/Teaching Experience:
Cape Cod Museum of Art
Exhibitions:
Upcoming exhibit: August 2009, solo at Cape Cod Museum of Art
Salmagundi Club, Yale Art Center, Silvermine Artist Guild, Cape Cod Art Association, Chatham Creative Arts, Provincetown Art Association, Cape Cod Museum of Art, Boston State House, Copley Society, Mass College of Art
Artistic Influences:
Sam Feinstein, George Nick, Neil Welliver, Wolf Kahn, Bonnard, Matisse, Monet
Artist Tags:
new england, antique autos, architecture, landscape, boats, figures
