Nick Bontorno

Black Horse, Original Painting

2023

Artist Comments
Artist Nick Bontorno paints a black horse running toward the distant desert bluffs. He renders the subject with minimal representation in the style of primitivism. The palette of soft pastels with the dark landscape complements his painterly approach. Nick focuses on how the piece feels rather than how it looks.

About the Artist
Interested in how things feel rather than how they look, artist Nick Bontorno creates poetic gestural work expressing his love for animals, people, and the desert. He spent ten years working on a horse ranch in Wyoming, teaching him to love the grace of horses and the beauty of the land and seasons. Growing up with limited means, Nick found ways to express his creativity through painting pictures on cardboard and drawing on fogged windows. He persisted and studied representational art and portraiture at The Lyme Academy in Connecticut but ultimately became a self-driven artist with a distinctive approach. "My work has evolved to be more ethereal, and I'm increasingly interested in the essence of what I'm painting," shares Nick. His ideas come to life in a small studio in Provo in an old Studebaker repair shop from the 1950s. Nick's art has been featured and acclaimed in Jackson, Wyoming. In his free time, he grooves on playing the guitar, singing with his wife, playing pool, and fixing old cars.

Words that describe this painting: horse, canyon, animals, desert, western, acrylicpaint, running, galloping, sky, horizon, primitive, primitivism, animals, western, primitive, acrylic painting, grey

Black Horse
Nick Bontorno
Acrylic painting on stretched canvas
Finished white edges
Ready to hang
One-of-a-kind
Signed on back
2023
16 in. h x 20 in. w x .5 in. d
0 lbs. 8 oz.