John Randall Nelson

Imaginary Friend

Imaginary Friend

Work Details

Imaginary Friend

2022

acrylic on panel

60 X 48

Inventory ID: #3418





    About John Randall Nelson

    “Nelson embraces the concept of artist as story teller. His symbolic amalgamations, which often consist of a central image superimposed over a collage of symbols and text (anything from art criticism to nursery rhymes), make intuitive sense of the inundation that we experience in what Nelson sees as our “over-communicated, how-to world.” Bits and pieces from daily life are placed, layered, painted, sanded and repainted; in this persistent, almost obsessive editing and rearrangement we find the grammar of Nelson’s private language. And because the constant reworking of the surface and the rearranging of form describe the process of discovery and creation, the paintings end up being narrative in two ways: they ask us to invent our own stories based on the images and messages that Nelson uses, but they also present the “story” of their own creation and invite us to share the restless, somewhat anxious journey of the art-making process.

    The strength of the work lies in the terrain between the narrative and the abstract, between what is immediately accessible to the viewer and what remains obscure. Masked in Nelson’s faux-naive style is a complex formalism designed to both present and obscure meaning. “Ambiguity and metaphor are central to my work,” says Nelson, “I think the ambiguous is more interesting, more engaging. Because there is always something more to discover it reveals itself more slowly and it has greater longevity.”

    Essay by Deborah Sussman

    All Works by John Randall Nelson

    Imaginary Friend

    Imaginary Friend

    2022

    acrylic on panel

    60 X 48

    Inventory ID: #3418

    Busta

    Busta

    2022

    m/m on panel

    14 X 12 Framed

    Inventory ID: #3429

    Villa

    Villa

    2022

    m/m on panel

    22 X 17 Framed

    Inventory ID: #3441

    Mickey Fishy

    Mickey Fishy

    2022

    m/m on panel

    36 X 55

    Inventory ID: #3446

    Yip Yip Yip

    Yip Yip Yip

    2022

    Steel m/m

    72 X 47 X 62

    Inventory ID: #3449

    Fifty Fifty

    Fifty Fifty

    2022

    m/m on panel

    74 X 48

    Inventory ID: #3459

    Emotional Memories

    Emotional Memories

    2022

    m/m on panel

    14 X 12 Framed

    Inventory ID: #3470

    Saturday 2:30 pm

    Saturday 2:30 pm

    2022

    m/m on panel

    14 X 12 Framed

    Inventory ID: #3471

    How I Weep

    How I Weep

    2022

    m/m on panel

    14 X 12 Framed

    Inventory ID: #3472

    Birdsong for Wiley

    Birdsong for Wiley

    2020-2022

    steel m/m

    72 X 40 X 75

    Inventory ID: #3475

    This Surely Is A Dream

    This Surely Is A Dream

    2020

    m/m on panel

    15 X 13 X 2 Framed

    Inventory ID: #2409

    Dog Park

    Dog Park

    2020

    m/m on canvas

    76 X 72

    Inventory ID: #2390

    un stretched canvas
    Be Easy

    Be Easy

    2020

    m/m on panel

    15 X 13 X 2 Framed

    Inventory ID: #2388

    Stop, Grasp, Look, Lose

    Stop, Grasp, Look, Lose

    2015

    steel, wood

    14 X 12 X 4

    Inventory ID: #1862

    Focus

    Focus

    2018

    mixed media on panel

    22 X 17 X 22 Framed

    Inventory ID: #1962

    Black Jack

    Black Jack

    2018

    mixed media on panel

    17 X 22 Framed

    Inventory ID: #1978

    Stares Hopeful

    Stares Hopeful

    2018

    mixed media on panel

    23 X 18

    Inventory ID: #2043

    Food Chain

    Food Chain

    2015

    mixed media on paper

    10 X 8 X 3 Framed

    Inventory ID: #2131

    Prunus Blue

    Prunus Blue

    2015

    mixed media on wood panel

    48 X 60

    Inventory ID: #AJN321

    Tear Drops for Holly Solomon #1

    Tear Drops for Holly Solomon #1

    2013

    mixed media on panel

    37 X 24

    Inventory ID: #AJN307