October Issue 2001
Crossroads Fine Art in Bluffton, SC, Features Works by Jon Nelson
Crossroads Fine Art in Bluffton, SC, will be exhibiting the work of artist Jon Nelson in the first one-man showing of his work in over five years. Scheduled to open Oct. 27 and hang through Nov. 17, the event is the culmination of an eleven year quest to complete his Master of Fine Arts degree from Savannah College of Art & Design. Titled Goodnight Moon, the show consists of works in oil executed this year.
"Living in Bluffton, a town known to residents and visitors alike for its strictly enforced speed limit, I guess I've learned to avoid rushing things," says Nelson of the protracted journey from enrollment in the graduate program at SCAD, to his final thesis exhibit.
Goodnight Moon is not really your typical MFA exit show, however. Nelson has established a solid reputation in his decade of residing and painting in the Lowcountry. The fifteen representational pieces comprising the show reflect the artist's proficiency with the medium and the emotional and intellectual maturity of his 50 years of life experience.
"First and foremost, I paint to communicate my thoughts, feelings and experiences. I do this through the landscape of the Lowcountry that I see every day. It is my anchor," says Nelson.
He continues, "The work is not very cerebral. In it you will not find the meaning of life, nor our reason for being. Rather, it is the expression of where I am in my life after nearly 50 years. It is an unconscious emoting, imposed on the beautiful canvas of marshes, rivers, moon and sky that support my medium of oil or acrylic."
The predictable cycle of tides, moon and season that are so much a part of the marshes and rivers of the Lowcountry are ideally suited to the concept of one's life, and figure prominently in Nelson's work. Like a parent (or child for that matter), the moon comes and goes, sometimes seen, sometimes unseen, but it always wields power or influence over the water, and by extension, everything that is inextricably connected to the water.
The artist observes that, "We are all subject to spheres of influence throughout our lives. We sometimes control our destinies, but these instances are few. More often there are other factors, well beyond our will, that converge to form defining moments or periods in our lives. Ultimately, life is about enduring these moments both good and bad. Some individuals do it better than others. Sometimes the very effort itself is the important thing. Southern writer Ferrol Sams observed that 'wisdom is the impact of experience on intellect.' Perhaps my paintings are my effort to communicate this process, to express a stasis, at that given moment when I am painting them, between past, present and future; fear, security and curiosity."
For further information check our SC Commercial Gallery listings, call the gallery at 843/757-5551 or on the web at (http://www.crossroadsfineart.com).
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