Nevadaville

Nevadaville, CO photos by Nathan Abels

Chances are you've never heard of Nevadaville, CO. I hadn't either before this last Friday when we took a short day trip along the Peak to Peak byway. The Peak to Peak byway is a road established in 1918 that was intended to connect Pike's Peak and Long's peak, but only covers the area roughly from Golden, CO to Estes Park (55 miles). It could be covered pretty quickly, but if you did that you would be missing out. Our first detour was a stop in Central City - a town far more interesting than the built-up casinos of neighboring Blackhawk, CO. From Central City, we followed a dirt road one mile uphill to Nevadaville, CO. According to Ghosttowns.com, Nevadaville was once a thriving town of 4,000 residents in the late part of the nineteenth century but as of ten years ago only six people called Nevadaville home. From the looks of it, six residents is probably a high estimate in 2008. The photos I took there (above) are not much to look at, and do the setting a bit of an injustice. The photos do show remnants fo mining operations - evidence of which can be found all over Nevadaville. The town has a very short (aprox 5 buildings) main street of sorts in which a fire house/city hall rests and a few large-windowed storefronts lie abandoned.

photos by Dolores Steele

Numerous empty structures litter the surrounding hills and large deposits of the gold-gray colored dirt from mining fill the valley. It was a strange place, and since moving to Colorado this was the fullest ghost-town we've encountered in terms of standing structures. I find these time-capsules in the mountains to be quite fascinating and I'd recommend taking the Peak to Peak byway to anyone along the Front Range. It's an easy day trip with lots to see. More of my pics from the trip can be found here.

New Work

Nathan Abels, “Deciduous” Acrylic, Oil on Panel, 24×36″

Mark Shetabi

"The Tower (after Breughel)", oil on canvas, 56" x 66", 2007

"The Ambassadors - Isfahan", oil on linen on panel, 36" x 48", 2007

"Ahmadabad (Ghost)", oil on canvas on panel, 20" x 25", 2006

These paintings by Mark Shetabi reminded me of seeing Melanie Smith's work @Belmar Lab here in Denver. Their palette is probably what is most similar, although the piece titled, "The Ambassadors..." by Shetabi is stikingly similar to Smith's aerial views.

Peter Rostovsky's "Blindness" Series

A somber and sublime series of paintings by Peter Rostovsky. His site states that it is, "A series of landscape paintings created for the occasion of the show "Blindness" at Dwight Hackett Projects in 2005."

John Tranter: A selection of poems

Full books in pdf format here - free to read. Well written, approachable poems/prose without an air of pretension. Take a break. Read a poem.

Eric LoPresti

I love these diptychs by Eric LoPresti. On his sites, Eric writes that this new series is based on "landscapes in conflict". The juxtaposition of visual emptiness (or fullness?) with the landscapes is intriguing. To me these images present a disturbance or change in time/circumstances - as if the viewer catches a glimpse of the landscape out of the corner of his or her eye. Or the more empty half of the composition could represent seeing through your eyelids - the landscape being a blink or a pause. They present the transitory nature of landscape and its relationship to human struggles/influences. I also see these works as acts of remembrance - the kind of remembrance that has been eroded with time; in which the person remembering can no longer recall specifics or has forgotten parts of the story.

Check out his website - he even gives you a glimpse into his working methods on the diptych series by posting a couple of digital sketches for future works.

Wordie!

I stumbled on the website Wordie yesterday and I've had fun exploring it this morning. They have a catchy motto, "like Flickr but without the photos". As one may expect - the site is filled with interesting words, creative misspellings, and thought out lists. I've started making my own list - the list is made up of "apt descriptions for paintings made or paintings to come". I would recommend this site to artists that may be reading this as a great resource for titles/statement descriptors.

Here's what I've got so far:

abaft · absence · aura · bedlam · cerulean · coagulate · deciduous · diaphanous · distance · forebode · gravel · grey · grime · minimum · minutiae · mote · nepenthe · nowhere · pelagic · placeless · presentiment · residuum · reticulate · roam · serried · silt · simulacra · sparse · symbiosis · syncronicity · warbler ·

Inspiration: Remington's Nocturnes

Frederic S. Remington (1861–1909) "The Old Stage-Coach of the Plains", 1901, Oil on canvas, Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas



I've been digging into Frederic Remington's nocturne/night paintings again recently. I had the great fortune to see an entire exhibition of his night time paintings a few years ago. His use of color in this series is fascinating - unusual blue-greens, subtle golden-taupe-greens, and vibrant blues - frequently contrasted with the rich oranges of candle or firelight. I highly recommend the book devoted to these works called "Frederic Remington: The Color of Night" by Nancy Anderson. Even if western art isn't your subject matter of choice, I think there is a lot to be learned from the palette of Remington. The more I flip through this book, the more intrigued I've become with these paintings. My next body of work for the exhibition in June will surely be influenced by Remington's coloring.

Rebecca Dolan @ Rule Gallery

Rebecca Dolan, 04-10-07, 1243, inkjet print mounted on aluminum, 30 x 40 inches
Rebecca Dolan, 04-10-07, 1242, inkjet print mounted on aluminum, 30 x 40 inches
Rebecca Dolan, 04-10-07, 1255, inkjet print mounted on aluminum, 30 x 40 inches

There's a great show up at Rule Gallery right now called "The Simple Truth" featuring five regional photographers; Rebecca Dolan, Anna Newell, Katie Taft, Rachel Hawthorn, and Ellen Yeiser. It is a exceptional show overall. I especially enjoyed Rebecca Dolan's work which I was not previously familiar with before visiting Rule. I would highly recommend stopping by Rule Gallery sometime Tues-Sat from 11-5, the show runs through April 5th. Next time you stop by the Mayan for a movie, go a little early and see the show at Rule - it's just a block down from the theater.

Fallout

Artwork from Bethesda Softworks copyright 2007

I love these apocalyptic concept paintings for the videogame "Fallout". Exceptionally realized images with a crazy degree of detail and atmosphere. I especially love the top image. I wish I knew who painted these, but I there's not specific artist recognition on the site.

Editors note: There is speculation as to whether or not these are indeed paintings or really good digital facsimiles and I can't say verifiable if they are paintings or pixels. Either way they are impressive images.

It is Official

NathanAbels dot com has returned. I finally got all the codes, transfers, etc. figured out and my new site is done. The new site also has a blog but that blog will focus more exclusively on my art - news, openings, new works, press...This blog will continue to be about inspiration, artists, music, film, and whatever else is interesting me at the time. Check out the new site and once again - thanks for stopping by here.

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

I don't usually write about films, but after watching, "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford", I had to recommend it - especially to those readers who may be into photography. It is a slow moving film, but the cinematography by Roger Deakins is spectacular and kept my interest the entire length of the film. I don't mean to imply that this film is only good because of its cinematography - the movie is quite good for multiple reasons. That said, this was one of the best filmed movies I've seen in a long time. Every shot in the film is exceptionally composed. I can't say enough about how captivating the photography/cinematography is in "Jesse James..." In several scenes, Deakins creates a vignette that references the photography from that time period. The cinematographer Roger Deakins will often holds on stationary objects (a shoe, a cluster of trees, a empty road) - these visual pauses add to the sense of place though I could see them being a test of patience for some viewers. Personally I love it when films incorporate non-moving images. Maybe it has something to do with my fascination with Warhol's 1964 film "Empire" in which he films the Empire State Building for six and a half hours.

The scene in the photo above is especially dramatic when the train comes around a bend and its light streams through the trees. On the subject of trains in film - I would also recommend a extensive collection of film stills with trains in them from the art of memory blog. And another gem I found from the art of memory is Sharon Harper's photos taken from trains.

New Aerial Photos

The first 20 photos of the slideshow below are new aerial photos I took on the way to and from Montrose, CO yesterday:



photos by Nathan Abels

Lorine Niedecker

Photo by Nathan Abels

"Along the river
wild sunflowers
over my head
the dead
who gave me life
give me this
our relative the air
floods
our rich friend
silt"

- Lorine Niedecker

I've been enjoying Neidecker's poems lately. They evoke the midwestern landscape with few words.

Denver "Building Creative Businesses Expo"

The Denver "Building Creative Businesses Expo" takes place today (Saturday) and is loaded with interesting workshops and discussions. I will be on the panel for the discussion called "Self Made: Local Artists Make Good" at 2:30 pm. Joining Me will be Katie Taft, Kay Tuttle and Patti Hallock. Self Made: Denver's site is here. Come check it out.

Works by Alexandre Arrechea

Alexandre Arrechea, “Ruidos sospechosos” 170 x 114 cm, watercolor on paper, 2006

Alexandre Arrechea, “Conspiración” 223 cm tall, Plywood and formica, 2007

Alexandre Arrechea, “Arena”, 114 cm diameter, Espumacor fiber, 2007

"Super" Tuesday

photo by joshuamellin
photo by billikidbrand

To celebrate "Super" Tuesday - check out this great, constantly updated flickr group called "Obama Street Art". According to the admin of the group, "This group is not an official endorsement of any presidential candidate by any of the parties involved, and is in no way funded by or affiliated with any presidential campaign. Think for yourself and vote." Regardless of your political affiliations, it's interesting to see politics in street art in a positive manner. There's no shortage of anti-Bush street art - so political-art positivity is refreshing.

Douglas Roesch's Photography Inspired by "The Road"

Douglas Roesch, from the series titled "The Road"

I'm reading Cormac McCarthy's "The Road" right now and while doing so I remembered a photo set I saw awhile ago that was inspired by the book. Douglas Roesch's photos capture the aura of the book well. You can find the whole set here. And you can read an exerpt from the book here. It's an appropriate choice for what I'm told is typically our snowiest month here in Denver.

Feature on Twenty2wo Blog

My work was featured on Twenty2wo Blog today. Check it out!

I'm on Artist-A-Day!

You can leave your comments about my work and/or rate me. Fun times. I'm a real average artist right now (2.6/5) but you can change that!

Enjoy your weekend everyone.