MAN AT WORK: Kadir Nelson puts his cultural connection on display
by Joyce E. Davis
UPSCALE MAGAZINE
May 2007
Painter Kadir Nelson tends to incorporate famous quotes into his life and his work. It might be author Ntozake Shange’s “Nothing denies negativity like beauty,” physicist Albert Einstein’s “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” or even his uncle Michael Morris’ “If you’re going to do something, do it right.”
Nelson, 33, started doing it right in the art world while still a teenager and has produced an incredible body of work that has been exhibited around the world, including at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. and the Bristol Museum in England. His art is collected by Denzel Washington, Steven Spielberg and Venus Williams, he has received commissions from Major League Baseball: The New York Times and the Coca-Cola company; and has illustrated books by Debbie Allen and Spike Lee. His illustrations for Will Smith’s children’s book, Just the Two of Us, won him an NAACP Image Award.
I pretty much knew this was what I was going to do--even if I had to starve for a little bit. It is who I am,” says Nelson, who put himself through Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY by creating work that appeared on T-shirts for Nike and in art shows.
All that hard work paid off. Right after graduation, Nelson landed at Dreamworks film studio (co-owned by Spielberg) as the conceptual artist for the film, Amistad, and was commissioned to create a series of paintings for a Sports Illustrated feature on the Negro Leagues. In an incredible twist, those paintings sparked numerous calls tot he Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City, Mo.
“We had no idea who he was,” remarked Bob Kendrick, director of marketing for the museum. “We did some research and called him just to tell him how impressed wand appreciative we were. We were just amazed at how someone so young [could] have this deep perspective on the Negro Leagues.”
For the past two years, three of Nelson’s pieces have been traveling in the NLBM’s Shades of Greatness, the first professional exhibition based on the Negro Leagues. Nelson recently finished a series of 42 paintings on the Negro Leagues, which will be published in 2008 in a tribute book he’ll also author. One of his favorites, Ole Satch, is an interpretation of baseball great Satchel Paige that was purchased by filmmaker Spike Lee.
“I try to do historical paintings that share parts of history that might not be so well known,” says the visual griot, who has also received accolades for his black cowboy series and for several epic paintings on singer Marvin Gaye. “Most of my paintings tell a story. It really doesn’t do anything for me to paint a pretty picture without it having some kind of a meaning--even if it’s very simple. If it doesn’t mean anything to me, it’s probably not going to mean anything to anyone else.”
“I try to offer a reflection of the beauty of the human spirit, so that when people look at my work they are reminded of their inner beauty and strength,” continues Nelson. These sentiments are evident in the anatomy an musculature lines in High Noon and the emotional portrayal of a woman preparing dinner for her family shortly after slavery time in Green Beans, which as inspired by time he spent with his grandmother as a child.
His work is so affecting that it elicits unpredictable responses. Nelson’s uncle once observed a man viewing his nephew’s painting, The Rucker, where a player is dunking over a crowd of people. “There was this guy standing really close to the painting just looking over every detail,” laughs Nelson, recounting the story, “and he mouth the words ‘bad MF.’ He didn’t say MF, he said the whole thing.”
Nelson has more Marvin Gaye paintings in the works, illustrations for a book on Abraham Lincoln due in 2008, a tour for an exhibit of children’s book art in the Fall and two recently released prints--Freedom and Emancipation.
Not being bound works for the artist, who ditched an architecture scholarship to follow his passion. “My mother was pretty adamant about her children visualizing what they wanted to be. I visualized being a working artist,” he says. “I just wanted to paint. Whatever came first and whatever seemed right is pretty much where I went.”
by Joyce E. Davis
UPSCALE MAGAZINE
May 2007
Painter Kadir Nelson tends to incorporate famous quotes into his life and his work. It might be author Ntozake Shange’s “Nothing denies negativity like beauty,” physicist Albert Einstein’s “Imagination is more important than knowledge,” or even his uncle Michael Morris’ “If you’re going to do something, do it right.”
Nelson, 33, started doing it right in the art world while still a teenager and has produced an incredible body of work that has been exhibited around the world, including at the Smithsonian in Washington, D.C. and the Bristol Museum in England. His art is collected by Denzel Washington, Steven Spielberg and Venus Williams, he has received commissions from Major League Baseball: The New York Times and the Coca-Cola company; and has illustrated books by Debbie Allen and Spike Lee. His illustrations for Will Smith’s children’s book, Just the Two of Us, won him an NAACP Image Award.
I pretty much knew this was what I was going to do--even if I had to starve for a little bit. It is who I am,” says Nelson, who put himself through Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, NY by creating work that appeared on T-shirts for Nike and in art shows.
All that hard work paid off. Right after graduation, Nelson landed at Dreamworks film studio (co-owned by Spielberg) as the conceptual artist for the film, Amistad, and was commissioned to create a series of paintings for a Sports Illustrated feature on the Negro Leagues. In an incredible twist, those paintings sparked numerous calls tot he Negro Leagues Baseball Museum (NLBM) in Kansas City, Mo.
“We had no idea who he was,” remarked Bob Kendrick, director of marketing for the museum. “We did some research and called him just to tell him how impressed wand appreciative we were. We were just amazed at how someone so young [could] have this deep perspective on the Negro Leagues.”
For the past two years, three of Nelson’s pieces have been traveling in the NLBM’s Shades of Greatness, the first professional exhibition based on the Negro Leagues. Nelson recently finished a series of 42 paintings on the Negro Leagues, which will be published in 2008 in a tribute book he’ll also author. One of his favorites, Ole Satch, is an interpretation of baseball great Satchel Paige that was purchased by filmmaker Spike Lee.
“I try to do historical paintings that share parts of history that might not be so well known,” says the visual griot, who has also received accolades for his black cowboy series and for several epic paintings on singer Marvin Gaye. “Most of my paintings tell a story. It really doesn’t do anything for me to paint a pretty picture without it having some kind of a meaning--even if it’s very simple. If it doesn’t mean anything to me, it’s probably not going to mean anything to anyone else.”
“I try to offer a reflection of the beauty of the human spirit, so that when people look at my work they are reminded of their inner beauty and strength,” continues Nelson. These sentiments are evident in the anatomy an musculature lines in High Noon and the emotional portrayal of a woman preparing dinner for her family shortly after slavery time in Green Beans, which as inspired by time he spent with his grandmother as a child.
His work is so affecting that it elicits unpredictable responses. Nelson’s uncle once observed a man viewing his nephew’s painting, The Rucker, where a player is dunking over a crowd of people. “There was this guy standing really close to the painting just looking over every detail,” laughs Nelson, recounting the story, “and he mouth the words ‘bad MF.’ He didn’t say MF, he said the whole thing.”
Nelson has more Marvin Gaye paintings in the works, illustrations for a book on Abraham Lincoln due in 2008, a tour for an exhibit of children’s book art in the Fall and two recently released prints--Freedom and Emancipation.
Not being bound works for the artist, who ditched an architecture scholarship to follow his passion. “My mother was pretty adamant about her children visualizing what they wanted to be. I visualized being a working artist,” he says. “I just wanted to paint. Whatever came first and whatever seemed right is pretty much where I went.”