“So I’ve been working on a new series of collaborative mixed media paintings with my friend Jeremiah. Many of these are still ocean themed, all nature themed. But in this series, the creatures are colliding with bright worlds of geometry and abstraction. In several of the paintings there is a theme of adaptation, or the question of it. How will nature evolve, or adapt alongside the changing climate and our technological world. They are fairly different from some of my other work (probably largely because they are collaborations). But I wanted to show you some images, and see if you would consider showing some of these in October. Almost all of the images that I am sending you are still in progress (except the beluga, which is finished, and the woodpecker penguin one, which is almost finished).
We are pretty excited about these, and I hope you like them too.
I definitely would like to show in October, just wondering if these new works would be a good fit.” –Nick
And, so it goes forward into FALL RETREAT (no pun intended). October 3rd. Seaside First Saturday Art Walk @ Fairweather’s.
Collaborative Paintings by Nick Brakel and Jeremiah Sieber
“These paintings were born of a simple one-off experiment to see if we could produce a collaborative painting. The first of which was the Byzantine Beluga painting. It proved successful, so we decided to embark upon a series. Themes of climate change, and adaptation or the lack there of started to arise. Throughout the series, there are images of honeycombs, whales, fish and birds, evolution and adaptation, sonar, and concerns of ocean acidification. We live in a world where the climate is rapidly changing, and adaptation to these changes is crucial for survival.
Aesthetically within the work, there is the contrast between the bright modern and geometric forms, with the more organic forms of the natural world. This is an echo, of the contrast between the modern human world, and that of nature. A mirrored glimpse into the contrast and disconnect.” –Nick Brakel and Jeremiah Sieber
Jeremiah Sieber artist’s statement:
“There is a space somewhere in between the beating hearts we all have inside of us and the cell phones that we put up to our heads. It is a place where our own organic material and the mechanical world we have created must co-exist. That transient space is the place I search to describe and understand as an artist.
MOUNTAIN can mean many things.
In terms of our “human” understanding of it, isn’t the sporting gear we choose to wear or the pictures on the side of a bag of trail mix just as relevant as the crystalline structure of snow or the geological upheaval caused by plate tectonics?
There are limitless sources and references available to define and explain what were once common or natural objects, occurrences, and places; and because of this, the lines of reality have become blurry. It is the structure of things that fascinates me as an artist. Both physically and philosophically. A completely fictive world is being produced and manipulated daily and this is primarily occurring via the computer and television. Three dimensional forms are constructed with wireframe skeletons. Algorithms are fed into these skeletons to provide skin and texture and the appearance of the “real” within this context is becoming more and more believable. These “realities” can only exist on the screen, and I find that I want to make them with my hands.
These paintings represent internal, external, meta-physical landscapes of the digital and natural world.”
