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John Randall NelsonEscape
$5,900
£4,558.77
€5,270.37
CA$8,337.13
A$9,350.64
CHF 4,896.79
MX$113,619.42
NOK 62,180.99
SEK 58,951.95
DKK 39,340.57
About the Item
Original art by John Randall Nelson depicting a bicycle with characteristics of Pop Art and Folk Art combined with a whimsical, illustrative style. The vibrant colors, cartoonish figures, and playful yet surreal scenes suggest influences from Pop Art, which often plays with commercial imagery, while the simplicity and rawness evoke Folk Art traditions. The artwork is stylized and abstracted, giving it a narrative or symbolic quality, much like storytelling. These elements make the work feel playful, yet there's an undercurrent of deeper meaning or commentary.
John Nelson's works often feature a central image superimposed over a collage of symbols and text, ranging from art criticism to nursery rhymes, creating an intuitive sense of the overwhelming influx of information in daily life. Nelson’s process is marked by a persistent, almost obsessive cycle of layering, painting, sanding, and repainting, which forms the grammar of his private language. This constant reworking not only shapes the surface but also narrates the story of the artwork’s creation, inviting viewers to share in the restless, sometimes anxious journey of art-making.
The power of Nelson’s work lies in the interplay between narrative and abstraction, balancing what is immediately accessible with what remains enigmatic. His faux-naive style masks a complex formalism, carefully crafted to both reveal and obscure meaning. “Ambiguity and metaphor are central to my work,” Nelson explains. “I believe the ambiguous is more engaging because it unfolds slowly, offering endless discovery and lasting intrigue.”
- Creator:John Randall Nelson (1956, American)
- Dimensions:Height: 38 in (96.52 cm)Width: 48 in (121.92 cm)Depth: 2 in (5.08 cm)
- Medium:
- Movement & Style:
- Period:
- Condition:
- Gallery Location:Tulsa, OK
- Reference Number:1stDibs: LU271215155252
John Randall Nelson
While it’s neither completely outsider art nor folk art, the work of John Randall Nelson shares common ground with those styles, particularly in its rawness and nonconformity. He uses symbols and archetypes in his paintings and sculptures, having developed a distinct artistic vocabulary over the years that materializes in his work in text and graphic elements.
Nelson was born in Princeton, Illinois, but works out of Phoenix, Arizona. Early visits to the Art Institute of Chicago introduced Nelson to painters such as Jim Nutt, Roger Brown and Karl Wirsum. He decided to move to Arizona to study at Arizona State University where he earned his MFA in 1996.
Nelson’s subjects are as playful as they are peculiar — his textured paintings, which feature collages, layers of oil paint and an integration of text, feature everything from animals and flowers to imagined human-animal hybrids or everyday objects such as shoes and bicycles. Many paintings are populated with brightly colored polka dot patterns while his Pop art-inflected steel sculptures take on fantastical forms and draw on the Pattern and Decoration movement, which emerged in cities such as Los Angeles and New York during the early 1970s.
Nelson has exhibited all over the United States. His sculptures can be found at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix and the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Nelson’s work is held in a number of private, public and corporate collections including Apple Inc., Phoenix Public Art and Design, the American Folk Art Museum and many other institutions.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of original John Randall Nelson paintings and other art.
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By John Randall Nelson
Located in Tulsa, OK
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By John Randall Nelson
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Navigation
By Lisa Weiss
Located in Tulsa, OK
Navigation by artist Lisa Weiss is a contemporary abstract blue, turquoise, grey, and yellow mixed media on panel that measures 30 x 20 and is priced at $1,500.
Lisa Weiss’ work is about mark making, patterning, spontaneous movement, momentary awareness and paring down to essentials. She is continually looking for ways to detach from the past and future with a focus on the here and now. Weiss’ paintings are process driven by movement, repetition, materials, and place. Her works are for beauty and contemplation.
A professional artist from Tennessee, Lisa Weiss received her BFA
in painting and sculpture from Middle Tennessee State University
in 1990. She received a teaching assistantship to Louisiana State
University in Painting and Drawing and completed her MFA in 1996.
Lisa has exhibited her work nationally in solo and group shows for the past
fifteen years. She is included in numerous public and private collections
throughout America, Canada, United Kingdom, Australia and Holland.
She has the honor of being in the Hunter Museum permanent collection.
In the last seven years, Lisa has attended four artist residencies:
Dorland Colony in California, Millay Colony in New York,
Wurlitzer Foundation in New Mexico and the Nantucket School of Art
on Nantucket Island.
She has taught design, painting and drawing at the University of
Southern Mississippi, Watkins College of Art and Film, Eastern New Mexico
University and Winthrop University.
Lisa has recently earned initial certification for teaching yoga from
Yandara Yoga Institute in Todos Santos, Mexico. She has traveled
the United States, Mexico and Europe. Lisa currently creates artwork
in her studio in Franklin, Tennessee.
Selected Collections
Hunter Museum of Art: Chattanooga, TN.
Hilton Hotel: Washington, DC.
Iberia Bank: Memphis, TN
Sand Point Corporation: Sand point, FL.
Baptist Hospital: Nashville, TN.
Glanker Brown Law: Memphis, TN.
Harrahs: Las Vegas, NV.
Hot Springs National Park: Hot Springs, AR.
CoCa - Cola Bottling Co.: Knoxville, TN.
Creative Arts Guild: Dalton, GA.
Tennessee Watercolor Society: Nashville, TN.
Private Collections: United States, Canada, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Holland
Selected Exhibitions
2013 Tinney Contemporary: Three Person Show, Nashville, TN.
2012 Copper Fox Gallery - Inaugural Opening, Leipers Fork, TN.
2012 L. Ross Gallery: Paper Exhibition – Memphis, TN.
2012 L. Ross Gallery: Group Show – Memphis, TN.
2012 L Ross Gallery: Common Thread - Memphis, TN.
2011 Nina Kuzina Fine Art: Group Exhibition - Nashville, TN.
L Ross Gallery: Paper Group Exhibition - Memphis, TN.
Bennett Gallery: 7 in 11 Group Exhibition - Knoxville, TN.
2009 Waterworks Art Center: Seedlings Exhibition - Salisbury, NC.
L. Ross Gallery: “Nature Forms’ – Solo Exhibition – Memphis, TN.
2008 Gallery Up: ‘Papillon’ – Solo Exhibition - Rock Hill, SC.
2007 Project A: ‘Sequence’ – Solo Exhibition – Nashville, TN.
2006 L. Ross Gallery: ‘Prana’ – Solo Exhibition – Memphis, TN.
Bennett Gallery: ’New Works’ – Two Person Exhibition’ – Knoxville, TN.
2005 Upstream People Gallery: ‘7th Annual All Media International’ - Omaha, NE.
L. Ross Gallery: ‘Inner Garden’ - Solo Exhibition Memphis, TN.
2004 Art Forms: ‘Between Moments’ - Solo Exhibition - Memphis, TN.
2003 Perry Nicole Fine Art: ‘Flux’ - Solo Exhibition - Memphis, TN.
2002 Eastern New Mexico University: ’Faculty Exhibition’ - Portales, NM.
Art Forms: ‘Strong Voices’ - Group Exhibition - Memphis, TN.
2001 Hanson Gallery: ‘Remembrance’ - Group Exhibition - Knoxville, TN.
Perry Nicole Fine Art: ‘Quest’ - Two-person Exhibition - Memphis, TN.
2000 Creative Resource Gallery: Group Exhibition - Birmingham, MI.
Perry Nicole Inaugural Opening: ‘Ascension’ - Solo Show - Memphis, TN.
1999 Creative Resource Gallery: Group Exhibition, Harbor Springs, MI.
National Miniature Exhibition: Group Exhibition - Salt Lake City, UT.
1998 Period Gallery: ‘National Miniature Exhibition’ - Omaha, NE.
Exit Gallery: ‘Small Wonders’ - Solo Exhibition - Hattiesburg, MS.
1997 Blue Haus Alternative Workspace: Group Exhibition - Hattiesburg, MS.
1995 Ironworks Gallery: ‘Art for Arts Sake’ - New Orleans, LA.
1993 Parthenon Gallery: ‘Central South Exhibition’- Group Show - Nashville, TN.
1992 Dalton Creative Art Guild: Group Exhibition - Dalton GA.
1990 Parthenon Gallery: ‘Tennessee Watercolor Society Exhibit’ - Nashville, TN
Awards and Honors
2008 Yandara Yoga Teacher Training: Todos Santos, MX.
2008 ‘The Conversation’: Inspired from the painting ‘Empire’: Rock Hill, SC.
2005 Nantucket School of Art & Design: Artist Residency, Nantucket Island, MA.
2004 Helene Wurlitzer Foundation: Artist Residency, Taos, NM.
2003 Maho Bay Environmental Arts Program: Artist Residency, St Johns...
Category
2010s Abstract Mixed Media
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