KENTON NELSON
This American artist was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. He attended Long Beach State University and Otis Parsons Art Institute, and for the last 40 years has had his art studio in Pasadena, CA. He has been on the faculty of the Otis Parsons Art Institute in Los Angeles and the Academy of Art in San Francisco.
Nelson traces his interest in painting back to his great uncle, Roberto Montenegro, renowned Mexican muralist and Modernist. The style of Nelson’s paintings have their origins in American Scene painting, Regionalism, and the work of the WPA artists of the 1930′s.
Nelson paints figures, landscape, and architecture bathed in light. The objective in his paintings is to idealize the ordinary with the intention of engagement, using the iconic symbols and styles of his lifetime in a theatrical style to make leading suggestions.
Nelson’s paintings have been featured seven times on the cover of The New Yorker magazine. Exhibitions of Nelson’s work have been enjoyed from Los Angeles to London, Vienna, and Zurich. His oil paintings of figures, objects, and architecture have, as one critic said, “single handedly resurrected the sun drenched optimism of New Deal American Painting.”
Press
"He is producing the landscape of our longings. Here paradise has not been lost. A bit complex, perhaps, but nothing of the graffiti, polluted air, and aggravated driving conditions in a state whose city populations have congealed into a honking mass."
—Jim Heimann, "In California." Californian Idealism
“The more I saw of (his paintings), the more I was fascinated by the nature of the images, the motives and the form of presentation.”
—Thomas Renner, Obstacles and Competition
“If it hadn't been for the luscious gold light that lies all over the sinuous landscape like lay lady lay, there wouldn't have been the movies. Kenton Nelson, Pasadena painter and mosaics maker, loves the light . . . and the cinema."
—Carol Caldwell, "Kenton Nelson, This Side of Paradise." Nashville Arts
“Working on as huge a scale as he did with his oil paintings, the native southern Californian has here gone mosaic—using thousands of tiles as his paintbrush. The effect is not just Chuck Close in pixels but a deeper exploration of light and the possibilities of chiaroscuro on an almost quantum level.”
—Devon Jackson, Santa Fean
“Kenton Nelson’s work, which has appeared on several covers of The New Yorker, often depicts Americana that brings to mind 1930’s American scene painters, American Regionalists, and Mexican Muralists.”
—Cynthia Dea, “Scenes from American Life.” The Los Angeles Times “Critics Choice”
“His cool dramatics owe more to Charles Sheeler’s linear fussiness and cunning, not to mention the sleek world of graphic design and advertising, than it does to Edward Hopper’s bleak chic…A sweeter formality and less loaded air is seen in another female study figure, “Swim Party #2” in which a woman in a one piece swimsuit and cap lounges elegantly, anonymously, by a backyard pool. This is the opposite of Eric Fischl’s pool parties, where sexual or criminal activities always threaten to invade the suburban calm.”
—Josef Woodward, “Full Nelson Effect.” ArtsScene
“On some level, we know what to expect from the painter R. Kenton Nelson. On other levels, he’s a hard one to figure out or easily place within the pantheon of contemporary painting. Somewhere between those two poles lies the ongoing seductiveness of his approach to painting.”
—Josef Woodward, “Getting at Angles.” ArtsScene
“Informed by an Americana influenced by the WPA and it’s champions as well as his great uncle, Roberto Montenegro, the Mexican Muralist who was a contemporary of Rivera, Orozco, and others, R. Kenton Nelson’s work implies a story line that viewers are seemingly familiar with. Executed on both board and canvas, his paintings are precise, saturated, and polished; wonderful perspectives on the world brought forth through the vision of a truly great exponent of narrative construct.”
—“Trouble.” CASA Arts and Entertainment
“Nelson’s paintings are a kick to look at. But like the short stories by Cheever and Fitzgerald, they are not about milk and honey.”
—Lynn Cline, “Nelson’s World.” The New Mexican
“This is literally a fantastic show. It’ll take you back to whatever world you’re prepared to visit again, whether it’s art or your own dreams of an unsullied future. Nelson’s mock-Soviet version of Southern California gives you all the slack you need to transplant his picture-perfect idealism to your choice of settings or sets.”
—Dennis Jarrett, “Picture-Perfect.” SF Reporter
“Nelson paints in crisp bright hues redolent of Depression-era children’s-book illustrations. Shadows are cleanly defined, edges are carefully delineated, and everything—from lighthouses to clouds—is given equal weight. Nelson creates an American ideal reminiscent of Dick and Jane or Ozzie and Harriet.”
—Grady Turner, “New York Reviews.” ARTnews
“Something darker, though, does seem to call from beneath the tidy surface, implanting an almost undetectable uneasiness. Or perhaps it’s our collective skepticism that invite the uncomfortable sensation. Perhaps we are so used to malevolence in today’s society that we assume it’s presence.”
—Traci Kampel, The Villager
“Fables for our time, these are cynical little mysteries which leave the viewer to fill in the blanks.”
—Rick Gilbert, “Houses of Everyday Life…” Art Beat
Bibliography
Daichendt, G. James, “Kenton Nelson: 30 Years of an Idealized World”, 30 YEARS Kenton Nelson, 2023
Mendenhall, Peter, “The More Things Change, the More They Stay the Same”, 30 YEARS Kenton Nelson, 2023
Gammill, Tom, Essay, 30 YEARS Kenton Nelson, 2023
Heimann, Jim, “By the Sea, By the Sea”, Seaside: Art by Kenton Nelson, 2023
Smith, Tobi, Introduction, Seaside: Art by Kenton Nelson, 2023
Warner, Malcolm, “The Secret Life of Pools”, Thirty Swimming Pools, 2021
Johnson, Robert Flynn, “The Hissing of Summer Lawns”, Water: Californian Idealism, 2019
Heimann, Jim, "In California", Californian Idealism, 2015
Fleischer, Matthew, “Rediscovered And It Feels So Good”, Pasadena Magazine, 2014
Renner, Thomas, Obstacles and Competition, 2013
Caldwell, Carol, "This Side of Paradise", Nashville Arts, May 2013
Present Tense, R. Kenton Nelson, Mendenhall/Ruzicska, 2008
Justine Amodeo, cover story, Coast, December 2007
Weinzierl, Gudrun, “Osterausstellungen bei Ruzicska und Ropac: Kenton Nelson, Francisco Clemente,” review, Salzburger Nachrichten, April 2007
Kronen Zeitung, review, April 2007
Top of Salzburg, essay, April 2007
Die Presse, review, April 2007
Cervin, Michael, review, The Pasadena Weekly, December 2006
California Homes, review, December 2006
Fox, Jacqueline, essay, Arroyo, January 2006
Haggerty, Gerard, review, Art News, December 2005
Woodward, Josef, “Full Nelson Effect,” review, ArtsScene, December 2005
Talkin, Helen, essay, Lifescapes, November 2005
American Art Collector, essay, October 2005
Hemispheres, review, March 2005
“A Peaceable Kingdom: The Paintings of R. Kenton Nelson,” American Artist, essay, February 2005
Geis, Sonya, essay, The Rose, 2005
Rhyme and Reason Prose and Cons, R. Kenton Nelson, Morton Court Publishing, 2005
Casa Santa Barbara, review, September 2004
Susman, Sahra, essay, The Monrovia Weekly, August 2004
Mahler, Richard, “Pool Party,” essay, Southwest Art, July 2004
Collins, Tom, review, Venue North, January 2004
Thomson Randall, Teri, “Glorifying the Utterly Ordinary,” essay, Pasatiempo, December 2003
Woodard, Josef, review, Santa Barbara News, October 2003
“Picture Perfect,” California State University, Long Beach, essay, Fall 2003
The New Yorker, cover, July 2003
Casa Santa Barbara, review, June 2003
The New Yorker, cover, April 2003
Moore, Margaret, Hemispheres, cover and essay, July 2002
Hutchinson, Linda, essay, Pasadena Star News, July 2002
Cline, Lynn, essay, Pasatiempo, May 2002
Atomic, illustrations, Fall/Winter 2001
Coast, cover, June 2001
Kolpas, Norman, “Perfect Worlds,” Southwest Art, cover and essay, March 2001
“20/20-Perfect Vision,” Decor and Style, essay, January 2001
Carasso, Roberta, review, Laguna News Post, September 2000
The New Yorker, cover, June 2000
Jarrett, Dennis, review, Santa Fe Reporter, May 2000
Pasadena Star News, essay, June 1999
Gilbert, Rick, review, Laguna News Post, April 1999
Coast, cover, April 1999
The New Yorker, cover, April 1999
Turner, Nancy Kay, review, ArtScene, March 1999
Turner, Grady T., review, ArtNews, February 1999
Kampel, Traci, review, The Villager, October 1998
Picturing a Perfect World, R. Kenton Nelson, publication, 1998
Wilson, Larry, review, Pasadena Star News, December 1997
Where New York, review, May 1997
San Marino Tribune, review, December 1996
Kho, Jennifer, review, Talon Mark News, October 1996
Pasadena Weekly, essay, July 1996
Moure, Nancy, review, Southwest Art, March 1996
Pasadena Weekly, review, January 1996
Pasadena Weekly, essay, November 1995
The Atlantic Monthly, illustrations, July 1995
Hemispheres, essay, April 1995
Pasadena Magazine, illustration, Winter 1994
Williams, Janette, article, Pasadena Star News, November 1994
Buzz, essay, November 1994
Mulgannon, Terry, review, Los Angeles, 1994
Torres, Vicki, essay, Los Angeles Times, January 1991
The Orange County Register, essay, January 1991