Spotlight Artist
Nathan Vernau
MidwestArtist Statement
The need to communicate is important. Being heavily influenced by comic books and the stories I read as a child, the idea of sequence and narrative has become essential to my drawings. By animating my body language, using symbols, and adding text I create a visual conversation with the viewer and myself. The words, phrases, or lyrics that appear offer multiple interpretations and double meanings that signify an inability to effectively communicate with others.
Throughout the work symbols touch on themes of instability, insecurity, confusion and a misdirection of emotions. As self-portraits these drawings offer bits and pieces of my character, along with alternate identities or personas. My artwork chronicles my life cycling through frustration, happiness, confusion, and disappointment. Specific, personal experiences that can be universally relatable act as the stimulus for my drawings. As a verbally inhibited person, my work has become the most direct and honest way for me to express the emotions and feelings that occupy my mind.
Artist's Additional works
Works shared by the artist outside of their featured New American Paintings selections
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