Time Is Irrelevant

Nick Walters

Artist Statement:  I create oil paintings with a focus on artistic precision without sacrificing emotions. My goal is to have pieces that prompt the viewer to create their own narratives. While I title my pieces based on the storyline I’ve created while working, but it is ultimately up to the viewer to decide what is occurring or has occurred. My work is based in realism though I also have expressionistic tendencies. I utilize varying compositions and palettes but am frequently attracted to the human form as the subject. My subjects often come from old found photos from earlier times in history. After deciding upon a reference, I then render the paintings in a contemporary fashion. I find it interesting that subjects from the past can bring out emotions and resonate with people in modern times. I also see it as a juxtaposition being that many would see personal snapshots as lowbrow art while associating oil painting with high art.

About the Artist:  I am a contemporary oil painter living and working in Lexington, Kentucky. In 2016, I spent five weeks at the Hazelden Beatty Ford Clinic for alcohol issues. While there, I found an old and cheap watercolor set and began painting cartoonish figures I had drawn as a child. I then decided that I would try painting when I returned home as it was something I had always wanted to do but never had the time or drive.  Once I was back in KY, I bought a cheap acrylic set and quickly found a new love. My pieces were by no means good and mainly based in abstraction at first, but I progressed well. Within a year, I had switched to oil and began to focus more on portraiture and figurative work. The resources I’ve used to learn my craft have been books, websites, YouTube, and Instagram; though trial and error has been my most predominate educator.