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COMMENTARY/REVIEWS
Constituting memories and primarily the experience
of places, whether Atlanta or Rome, the paintings
serve as catalysts to an investigation of line, form
and color."Atlanta feels like a red city to me,"
says Nellsmith, noting the presence of the city's
heat, activity and smell. The vivid colors of the
artist's paintings in part derive from his inclination
to associate a palette of colors with a particular
place. Columbia, he says, is "more yellow-orange
with some blue-grey. I read New York as "purple."
Rome, the inspiration for some of the new works,
feels orange and ochre to him. Those looking at the artist's work, however, should not try to read too literally into these canvases or search too deep for familiar physical landmarks within these associative color fields. These paintings are not visual transcriptions. Once started, the paintings become the artist's investigations into the materials of paint itself, a passionate exercise in expressionism.
The richly colorful spaces and exciting active
marks of these works derive from an artist
who is well-schooled in the history and theory
of art but who nevertheless appreciates the
sense of immediacy and discovery of the process
of painting. Though intellectually grounded in
the traditions and formalism of painting, Nellsmith
approaches each work on its own terms, a visual landscape that does not require verbal articulation.
-Terri Tynes, NY,NY
Carolina Arts
October Issue 2007
Nellsmith's overwhelming use of bright
color grabs the viewer's attention and only
releases it after the scene, the street or
the city block is recognized underneath
the flow of colors and shapes. His primary
intention is not to reproduce a particular
part of the city, but to depict what is behind
the walls of buildings and to reflect the
energy of the place. The dynamic
compositions of his canvases add to the energy and movement of the paintings. The city is alive and in motion and Nellsmith let's the viewer know that.
The spontaneous cityscapes are reminiscent of the American Abstract Expressionism movement, capturing the essence of a chosen place or city with unanticipated and often surprising colors, lines and shapes. Through his canvases Nellsmith allows the viewer to see how the artist perceives Columbia and through the powerful colors he shares the passion of the city, which could barely be portrayed by using only realistic colors and a more traditional style.
-Judith Trunkos
Published in Arts & Literature http://columbiacitypaper.com/arts
of places, whether Atlanta or Rome, the paintings
serve as catalysts to an investigation of line, form
and color."Atlanta feels like a red city to me,"
says Nellsmith, noting the presence of the city's
heat, activity and smell. The vivid colors of the
artist's paintings in part derive from his inclination
to associate a palette of colors with a particular
place. Columbia, he says, is "more yellow-orange
with some blue-grey. I read New York as "purple."
Rome, the inspiration for some of the new works,
feels orange and ochre to him. Those looking at the artist's work, however, should not try to read too literally into these canvases or search too deep for familiar physical landmarks within these associative color fields. These paintings are not visual transcriptions. Once started, the paintings become the artist's investigations into the materials of paint itself, a passionate exercise in expressionism.
The richly colorful spaces and exciting active
marks of these works derive from an artist
who is well-schooled in the history and theory
of art but who nevertheless appreciates the
sense of immediacy and discovery of the process
of painting. Though intellectually grounded in
the traditions and formalism of painting, Nellsmith
approaches each work on its own terms, a visual landscape that does not require verbal articulation.
-Terri Tynes, NY,NY
Carolina Arts
October Issue 2007
Nellsmith's overwhelming use of bright
color grabs the viewer's attention and only
releases it after the scene, the street or
the city block is recognized underneath
the flow of colors and shapes. His primary
intention is not to reproduce a particular
part of the city, but to depict what is behind
the walls of buildings and to reflect the
energy of the place. The dynamic
compositions of his canvases add to the energy and movement of the paintings. The city is alive and in motion and Nellsmith let's the viewer know that.
The spontaneous cityscapes are reminiscent of the American Abstract Expressionism movement, capturing the essence of a chosen place or city with unanticipated and often surprising colors, lines and shapes. Through his canvases Nellsmith allows the viewer to see how the artist perceives Columbia and through the powerful colors he shares the passion of the city, which could barely be portrayed by using only realistic colors and a more traditional style.
-Judith Trunkos
Published in Arts & Literature http://columbiacitypaper.com/arts
Columbia City Paper
"Nellsmith was never really drawn to more literal forms of art. He wanted to explore how the material could be used, rather than making the material fit a prescribed outcome. "If art is not about freedom," he says, "then there just seems no point to it." For example, Nellsmith believes that the freedom to use color in expressionistic ways can turn an ordinary or otherwise unattractive scene, like one of freighter piers in Charleston Harbor, into one of beauty. "Even when I set out to do a relatively 'grimy' painting," he says, "in the end they come out beautiful. I don't think it's possible to do anything objectively ugly. The only way it can come out that way is if you attach a context to it."
And his explorations of color are one of the hallmarks of Nellsmith's work. His choices have won admirers, while others disagree with what he's done. However, Nellsmith says it's done because of how certain locations feel to him. "I associate colors with places and cities," he says. "For instance, the Gervais Street bridge in Columbia just seems like a purple place to me. And then I wanted to do something different, like light the whole city of Columbia in yellow sunlight. I thought it was interesting, an impossible reality, but interesting."
-Jodi Peeler
Newberry Magazine
"Nellsmith was never really drawn to more literal forms of art. He wanted to explore how the material could be used, rather than making the material fit a prescribed outcome. "If art is not about freedom," he says, "then there just seems no point to it." For example, Nellsmith believes that the freedom to use color in expressionistic ways can turn an ordinary or otherwise unattractive scene, like one of freighter piers in Charleston Harbor, into one of beauty. "Even when I set out to do a relatively 'grimy' painting," he says, "in the end they come out beautiful. I don't think it's possible to do anything objectively ugly. The only way it can come out that way is if you attach a context to it."
And his explorations of color are one of the hallmarks of Nellsmith's work. His choices have won admirers, while others disagree with what he's done. However, Nellsmith says it's done because of how certain locations feel to him. "I associate colors with places and cities," he says. "For instance, the Gervais Street bridge in Columbia just seems like a purple place to me. And then I wanted to do something different, like light the whole city of Columbia in yellow sunlight. I thought it was interesting, an impossible reality, but interesting."
-Jodi Peeler
Newberry Magazine