Now Featuring Ryan Stewart Nault

Young Chicago artist Ryan Stewart Nault is figuring things out, and his hands-on process of painting still lifes reflects a process of careful observation balanced with improvisation.

Exclusive Print 1

Exclusive Print 2

Exclusive Print 3

Exclusive Print 4

Exclusive Print 5

MH: Where are you from and where do you live and work?  What’s the art scene like where you are?

RN: I was born and raised in a small town just outside of Grand Rapids, Michigan. This last spring I moved to Chicago where I have been attending the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. The art scene here is something I have yet to break into. I try to get out to some openings at least once a month, but to be honest I am still rather unfamiliar with the Chicago art scene. We have some really great art museums though, including the Art Institute of Chicago, which I visit multiple times a week.

MH: Some of you work reminds me of the paintings and prints of artist Patricia Bellan Gillen.  Who are some of your influences?

RN: I was recently turned on to the artist Malcom Morley, whose work really excites me. At the Art Institute we have a really great modern wing, where I like to go to look at works by Max Ernst, Rene Magritte, Kasimir Malevich, Philip Guston, the list goes on. I also really enjoy the work of Allison Schulnik, Claire Sherman, Kelly Allen, Alex Lukas, Benjamin Thomas Rawson, Ryan De La Hoz, My friends/ fellow students, professors, and my sister Allison Nault.

MH: I like how your work straddles totemic/symbolic vs. observed depictions of nature.  How do you feel about both sides of this spectrum?  How do you situate yourself?

RN: I would say that I situate myself pretty close to the middle of the spectrum. Through the process of painting these objects from observation I realize what role it is that they play in these imaginary scenarios that I come up with, trying to create my own symbolic language.

MH: What’s your relationship to the still life?  The prints we’re featuring on LPP feel like still life painting run a bit wild.

RN: I find still lives very effective ways to convey abstract ideas and feelings. Still lives force the viewer to question the significance of the paintings contents, and compositional choices, and often trigger some kind of memory in the viewer causing them to project their own ideas and feelings onto the painting. I try to make paintings that have that same effect on the viewer.

MH: How do you come up with the still lifes and arrays of objects you paint?  What’s your process of composition? How do you select materials?

RN: It is very rare that I begin a painting by making preliminary sketches, or drawings, and even when I do, it’s not often that the painting ends up looking anything like what I had planned. I will usually paint one object, or piece of the composition at a time, and then in response the object/objects that have already been painted, and the negative space they create, I choose a piece that I think will fit just right.  I have a pretty nice collection of sticks, rocks, and tree bark. I’ll pick up really anything if I think it is worth painting. So when it comes to creating my compositions I will usually draw from my collection, but some times that’s not enough, and I have to go out searching for a certain size/shape/species of tree branch, or something. (This is a task that was much easier when I was living in Michigan.)

MH: What kind of paintings do you want to be making in 10 years?

RN: Oh boy, I don’t know if I want to answer that question. Ten years from now I just hope that I have the space, time, and means to be able to paint.

MH: What’s your favorite part of painting and drawing?  If someone asked me that, I might say something about meaning and aesthetics but in the back of my mind I’d be thinking about the pleasure of using tiny paint brushes, choosing one brush for every possible mark. Do you have any studio moments like that?

RN: There has always been something very magical about painting and drawing for me, the fact that through different combinations of red, yellow, blue, and white you can make any color you desire still blows my mind. I love to mix paint, and I can really get lost in the knots of branches, and tiny details of my subjects, but there is nothing more satisfying than putting the final touches on a painting, and then sitting back, and taking it all in.