a new artist statement

"break," 2010

6 x 6 inches, color pencil & paper

hello people,

so i needed to come up with a new statement for the work i've been producing since getting out of graduate school and i thought about posting it here to get some feedback. it's built upon by some part's of my last statement, since there are certainly related elements. here are links to the galleries that this statement is referencing:

http://www.brooklynartproject.com/photo/albums/6x6x6-1

http://www.brooklynartproject.com/photo/albums/winter-madness

http://www.brooklynartproject.com/photo/albums/drifting-1

any help or feedback will be much appreciated.

thanks,

-Nathan

Artist Statement:

The need to communicate is important. As an inhibited person my artwork often ends up expressing my thoughts visually much more than I do verbally. Most recently the work has been referencing my transition out of graduate school and into reality. As someone who tends to procrastinate, trying to find footing for the next step in life has been a challenge. Looking through the work one may notice a sequence arranging a narrative. By animating my body language, inserting carefully composed symbols, and utilizing text I create a visual conversation with myself and the viewer. I suspect the feelings and emotions I depict are universal, but they come from specific, personal experiences.

Blue's and red's create an intense vibrancy in the color, both attracting attention and visually disrupting the viewer. Fragmented cinder blocks along with shallow water refer to instability or insecurity, alluding to ideas that I am adrift and wading through unventured territory in my life. The presentation of my subconscious world has led me to arrange many pieces with a theatrical display. This dominant feature has been a curtain in the midst of being raised or lowered - either elegant and still or uneven and disheveled. With this work I compose scenes from the stage inside my brain.

Nathan Vernau,

March 2010

the beginning of winter madness

"so this is what adulthood is"

25 1/2" x 19 1/2"

color pencil, paper, & googly eye

this is the start of the newest series, entitled 'winter madness.' you can make of that what you will. what i can tell you is it involves me in my longjohns, wearing a rabbit mask, and wielding a chainsaw.

the next one will involve dancing.

stay tuned.

a new one for the "drifting" series

"most of us have to"

i had a good old-fashioned 7-hour drawing session today. no work, no errands, just starting & finishing a drawing without letting days go in between finishing everything. it felt pretty damn good. sometimes you just have to roll up your sleeves, and get back to doing things the way you used to.

a wedding gift

"two hearts overlapping"

so i had wanted to post this drawing for a couple months now, but have had to wait for very good reason. when i found out my sister had gotten engaged i wanted to make her & my future brother-in-law a drawing for a wedding gift. i had tinkered on some sketches during downtime at work and came up with this idea. now, the rabbit's are an old icon i used in a lot of drawings a few years back, and i was happy to use them again: endearing, lovable, and cute. i probably anthropomorphize them for varying reasons, and became set on using them as representatives for Heather & Steve. now i've also used heart's in my work quite a bit, too, but in a slightly different way...they were usually upside-down. so it was nice to actually use them "correctly" in this case to emphasize the obvious emotions for this piece, which is all about love.

the heart's overlap and embrace, creating affection - XOX - a hug & a kiss. the symbol beams breaking clouds. it's simple, because that's all there is to it.

as someone who creates some fairly narcissistic work (although i do like to think it's humbly narcissistic) it was a nice break to create something for other reasons outside my own thoughts. i was quite happy with the way it turned out. it'll be interesting to see it now over the years when i visit them.

winter work

"my vision turns to snow"

"just trying to hang on"

hello friends,
the winter is cold, but it is also productive. i've finished two bigger works, a continuation in the series from the previous post. i think i'm going to make one more for the series, which i'm tentatively titling "drifting." i suppose it's a response to the transitional state i'm in at the moment. and you could also say the weather has had an effect on them, as well. lots of snow.

"panic attack whilst treading water"

"panic attack whilst treading water"
19 1/2" x 25 1/2"

a return to figurative work after a month and a half. working on combining new ideas with old ones. it was a long project, but the snow days helped me hammer it out quicker than i thought. this is the first in probably at least a 4-drawing series. the holiday break will interrupt the drawing schedule, but i'll probably have a few more by mid-winter. it should keep me busy for a while, and that's a good thing.

"it's not always like this"

"it's not always like this"
28" x 66"

the second big gold drawing, a companion piece to "the transition is hard to deal with." it acts as a depiction of the aftermath of all the action from the previous piece. the wreckage floats around as the curtain begins to lower on the scene. not quite as intense or packed with imagery, it's a quieter, reflective work.