Rob Nadeau's art work is layered, both semantically and structurally. But on the surface, it's quite bright.
Jason Rearick / The Citizen
Rob Nadeau's work, Untitled (blind willie). Nadeau's work is on display at the Grove Gallery in Aurora.
Rob Nadeau's work, Untitled (blind willie). Nadeau's work is on display at the Grove Gallery in Aurora.
A selection of the New York City artist's works are on display in Aurora's Grove Gallery, where owner Anna Baxter welcomed his abstract style in late August.
“I was very drawn to it, it's very energetic,” Baxter said.
Many of Nadeau's works consist of small sets of brightly colored bars that stop midway and start again as new colors. In this respect, they resemble the wooden planks of a gymnasium floor from a bird's eye view - if each piece of lumber was painted a warm pink or cool cerulean.
Other works depict a range of colors emanating from a single point like an expensive umbrella. This type of composition expresses an enthralling sense of depth in his art.
In these works, Nadeau releases his controlling instincts as an artist. They are the alternative to the other distinct style in which he works, where he paints with much less structure and in a more amorphous style that can manifest in swirling brush strokes or brusque forms.
“The stripe paintings are like laying bricks, they're something repetitive that I can build and work on and I don't have to question them,” he said. “They're almost like killing time to get myself geared up for the other images while I'm waiting for inspiration.”
Nadeau added, “If I was always working on the more gestural paintings, I would overwork them and kill them.”
Nadeau began painting as a student at Brown, where he had considered a career in architecture. However, he found art much more suited to his style. By crafting a new object on a canvas or sketch pad entirely by hand, Nadeau could exercise his creative
energy to his liking.
He often juggles several works at a time in his Brooklyn studio.
“One thing leads to another, an idea I have on one canvas I'll use on another,” he said. “It's a beget, begat, begot process.”
Nadeau generates many of the ideas in his paintings by sketching constantly. The results of this rudimentary process are also on display in the Grove Gallery as a wall of grouped drawings.
His art also incorporates visual ideas from found art as varied as anime, album covers and aerial photographs that he keeps in a large archive. Elements of them often seep into his work, sometimes consciously and sometimes subconsciously.
This method is one point in a continuous metamorphosis of style. When Nadeau began painting, his work was somewhat more traditional and figurative. He feels his work in the Grove Gallery represents its transition into a “more intense and explosive and graphic” aesthetic.
“As I became more aware of my innate tendencies, I tried to zero in on those and create a language out of that,” he said.
Nadeau's work continues to evolve with a graphic art influence that is taking the form of text in art he is currently creating for his next show.
“It's another level of conveying an idea, it just visually ties into my interests,” he said.
As his work takes new forms, Nadeau is also exhibiting it in new ways. After years of group shows in New York City, “Small Works” at the Grove Gallery is one of a series of outside solo exhibits that began with a show in Berlin last December.
Nadeau hopes the new audiences that see his art will interpret it in ways as varied as the inspiration behind it.
“It's open-ended, and they bring their own life experiences to the whole process. I'm not dictating what they should be thinking or feeling,” he said. “That's the nature of the work.”
Baxter sought Nadeau's art for Grove after meeting the artist through a friend. She knew from the outset of the gallery's opening last year that she wanted to offer a glimpse at his work to people that may not be able to see it in New York City.
“It's resolved; a lot of abstract art is interesting and experimental with form, but it doesn't feel resolved the way his does,” Baxter said. “I personally responded to it and I thought others would too.”
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
If you go
What: Rob Nadeau: Small Works
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; noon to 4 p.m. Sundays; exhibit open through Sunday, Sept. 30
Where: Grove Gallery, 347 Main St., Aurora
Admission: Free
For more details: Call 364-7472
“I was very drawn to it, it's very energetic,” Baxter said.
Many of Nadeau's works consist of small sets of brightly colored bars that stop midway and start again as new colors. In this respect, they resemble the wooden planks of a gymnasium floor from a bird's eye view - if each piece of lumber was painted a warm pink or cool cerulean.
Other works depict a range of colors emanating from a single point like an expensive umbrella. This type of composition expresses an enthralling sense of depth in his art.
In these works, Nadeau releases his controlling instincts as an artist. They are the alternative to the other distinct style in which he works, where he paints with much less structure and in a more amorphous style that can manifest in swirling brush strokes or brusque forms.
“The stripe paintings are like laying bricks, they're something repetitive that I can build and work on and I don't have to question them,” he said. “They're almost like killing time to get myself geared up for the other images while I'm waiting for inspiration.”
Nadeau added, “If I was always working on the more gestural paintings, I would overwork them and kill them.”
Nadeau began painting as a student at Brown, where he had considered a career in architecture. However, he found art much more suited to his style. By crafting a new object on a canvas or sketch pad entirely by hand, Nadeau could exercise his creative
energy to his liking.
He often juggles several works at a time in his Brooklyn studio.
“One thing leads to another, an idea I have on one canvas I'll use on another,” he said. “It's a beget, begat, begot process.”
Nadeau generates many of the ideas in his paintings by sketching constantly. The results of this rudimentary process are also on display in the Grove Gallery as a wall of grouped drawings.
His art also incorporates visual ideas from found art as varied as anime, album covers and aerial photographs that he keeps in a large archive. Elements of them often seep into his work, sometimes consciously and sometimes subconsciously.
This method is one point in a continuous metamorphosis of style. When Nadeau began painting, his work was somewhat more traditional and figurative. He feels his work in the Grove Gallery represents its transition into a “more intense and explosive and graphic” aesthetic.
“As I became more aware of my innate tendencies, I tried to zero in on those and create a language out of that,” he said.
Nadeau's work continues to evolve with a graphic art influence that is taking the form of text in art he is currently creating for his next show.
“It's another level of conveying an idea, it just visually ties into my interests,” he said.
As his work takes new forms, Nadeau is also exhibiting it in new ways. After years of group shows in New York City, “Small Works” at the Grove Gallery is one of a series of outside solo exhibits that began with a show in Berlin last December.
Nadeau hopes the new audiences that see his art will interpret it in ways as varied as the inspiration behind it.
“It's open-ended, and they bring their own life experiences to the whole process. I'm not dictating what they should be thinking or feeling,” he said. “That's the nature of the work.”
Baxter sought Nadeau's art for Grove after meeting the artist through a friend. She knew from the outset of the gallery's opening last year that she wanted to offer a glimpse at his work to people that may not be able to see it in New York City.
“It's resolved; a lot of abstract art is interesting and experimental with form, but it doesn't feel resolved the way his does,” Baxter said. “I personally responded to it and I thought others would too.”
Staff writer David Wilcox can be reached at 253-5311 ext. 245 or david.wilcox@lee.net
If you go
What: Rob Nadeau: Small Works
When: 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Thursdays through Saturdays; noon to 4 p.m. Sundays; exhibit open through Sunday, Sept. 30
Where: Grove Gallery, 347 Main St., Aurora
Admission: Free
For more details: Call 364-7472
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