Nathan Spoor is a Los Angeles-based painter and writer whose work I just recently became acquainted with. He shows an astonishing range in his work, everything from foreboding and morose to joyful and colorful. The one thread that links his paintings involve images of transition and growth; fluid narratives that chronicle a world rich with the mystery, joy, pain, and delicate balance of personal and spiritual evolution. The subjects of his work often don’t look like humans at all, but strange, bulbous extraterrestrial beings who may or may not be in a state of physical transition. It’s no surprise that he lists film director David Lynch as a major influence.
A surrealist who owes a debt of gratitude to the masters (the tiny green umbrella that appears in “Untitled,” “The Golden Mean” and “The Eloquent Shade Of Tomorrow” is an obvious nod to Magritte), Spoor employs a technique known as Suggestivism to achieve a meditative state from which he makes contact with a “world” located in the unconscious, a narrative wonderland titled The Intimate Parade. From this state he emerges and shares his journeys on canvas. As such, his imagery tends to operate in a self-sustained symbiosis. Through both intellectual and metaphysical appeals, Spoor’s work documents the symphony of life unfolding before him and within each of us. It’s perhaps no surprise that he lists director David Lynch as one of his influences.
Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the weird inner world of painter Nathan Spoor.
-
- Nathan Spoor
-
- Domino The Destitute
-
- Against All Odds
-
- Commencement
-
- Arrival
-
- Suddenly
-
- The Futurist
-
- At The Edge Of Significance
-
- Away We Go
-
- Always And Forever
-
- 2′s My Favorite 1
-
- Dark Side Of Me
-
- Another Face In The Crowd
-
- Untitled
-
- Echo
-
- Homecoming
-
- Eloquent Shades Of Tomorrow
-
- Elusive Bubble Shark
-
- Good Night Fair Lady
-
- Gravity’s Union
-
- Iron Fist
-
- Letting Go
-
- Mothers Of Men
-
- Number City
-
- Pretelethal
-
- The Golden Mean
-
- Sentry The Defiant
-
- The Watchers
-
- Subtraction
-
- Holly Wood The Cracked
-
- Simpatico
-
- The Sounds Of The Crown
-
- The Afterman
-
- The Hollow
-
- Rites Of Passage
-
- The New Dawn
-
- The Museums Of Sleep
-
- Untitled
-
- Vic The Butcher
Stephen, incredible art. I have so many favorites out of this collection!
I hope you don’t mind if I reblog your link on my reblog page?
Hi Judy … of course you can! Glad you liked this really intriguing work. I had a feeling you’d like this one!
Stunning artwork!
Hi Hero … thanks for dropping by! Glad you like his work. Very, very interesting!
Hi. “Against All Odds,” “Suddenly,” and “The New Dawn” remind me of Tolkien’s own paintings of Middle Earth scenery. But the rest, I have to say, remind me of nothing else I’ve ever seen!
Agreed with you here, Vicki. Agreed Sentry The Defiant, Iron Fist and a few others actually look like street art to me. Really, really diversified stuff … really, really interesting! Glad you like it!
Despite some of the obvious adult imagery and inherent symbolism, I could see Spoor doing a children’s book – perhaps a quirky one but nonetheless… Funny you mentioned Magritte, today’s post was supposed to be about surrealism (we’ll see how it ends up…)!
Hey there ideflex … thanks for dropping by. Agreed, there’s something inherently childlike about a lot of his work, Mothers Of Men especially.
Very powerful painting – and very dark …. Not really my type of art, I like the light and delicate – but I like “Letting Go” and “Suddenly” – both of them would have a place somewhere in my apartment.
Viveka, I would love to stock your apartment with all of the art that I’ve presented so far that you really like. That would be a very interesting collection! Letting Go is one of my faves.
You’re welcome .. to stock my apartment with art.
Like you taste in painters. Don’t have that many walls .. but I can take what is up today – all my own photos .. my bests.