The gallery is proud to present LONG WAY DOWN, a solo exhibition of painting by Omaha-based artist Nick Clark opening Friday, February 4th.
“My impulse has always been to sink into, sit in, digest, and silence existential pangs. I am exploring grace in grief, transmutation of the self, no free will, my brother’s mental and physical paralysis, and my own conditioning in relation. In practice, I am drawn to the rigid abstraction of photogrammetry as it is translated through fuzzy airbrush marks manipulated by shaky, aging biological hands. The distance between photogrammetry and unwieldy airbrush painting is wide and I enjoy the punishing stretch required to bring the two together. This is a masochistic approach to painting which is necessary to demonstrate and transcend dread, sometimes feeling like screaming a prayer without knowing the words.
My work comprises photography, CG models, LiDAR scans, and notes app scribbles which together are digitally composed and ultimately realized as a monochromatic acrylic and oil painting on canvas. My paint application utilizes centuries-old glazing and high luminosity oil painting techniques while pushing the boundaries of contemporary acrylic and airbrush. Digital, classical, and contemporary painting approaches are blended together to define this style. Monochromatic paint focuses the subject and textures, emphasizing visual languages unique to each digital technology. My work fits the new genre of Post-Digital Pop with a self-aware angst attributed to poetic and cursed image captures derived from every step of my process.
LiDAR scans—a laser photography technology which quickly renders 3D models of real world objects and environments—are a multi-dimensional snapshot of place and time that feel alive like a futurist’s approach to plein air painting, especially when the subject is inevitably abstracted by imperfect capture. These living image scans are autobiographical thumbprints of my surroundings and are incorporated as the setting and often the subject for each painting.
Superimposed preliminary writings and sketches nod at my process by presenting the raw form of the work on top of, or cut from, the fully realized painting. The charm is in the disparity between the meticulous quality of a painting and the impulsive, childlike prose and drawings hovering above. The friction between these opposing stylistic languages equalized through paint leaves me with a space to mull over vulnerability, endurance, cringe, love, and despondence.”
-NICK CLARK
Nick Clark (b. Omaha, NE) is a painter and digital artist working in Omaha, Nebraska. Nick exhibits paintings nationally, operates a mural and portrait business, mentors high school students, works for Bemis Center of Contemporary Arts, Joslyn Art Museum, Kent Bellows Studio, League of Human Dignity, and works as Art Director and lead Graphic Designer for an educational nonprofit, Prairie STEM. Nick is the recipient of two Amplify Arts Generator grants for his exhibitions Young Adult Living (2019) and Above/Below (2020). Nick participated in the Bemis Center for Contemporary Art Benefit Auction (2017, 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021) and the Nebraska Biennial (2017) where he received the J Laurie Wallace Emerging Artist Award . Nick’s recent solo and two-person exhibitions include: Two Trick Pony (ProjectProject, 2020), NERVE (Split Gallery, 2022), and Long way down (SULK CHICAGO, 2022).
LONG WAY DOWN opens Friday, February 4th, 7 - 10 pm with all-day gallery hours Saturday, February 5th.
Viewing by appointment only February 6th - March 12th.
Mask required regardless of vaccination status.
525 South Dearborn | Chicago, IL 60605