Artist Pete Nawara at work. Photo by Lauren Ruth / North by Northwestern.
Conversing with Chicago artist Pete Nawara
By Lauren C. Ruth
Artist Pete Nawara lives and works in Logan Square, which can be described as the next Wicker Park due to the rising numbers of artistically-inclined young residents (but it’s not too expensive…yet). In a typical Nawara piece, faces and clothing become colorful topographic maps — think Photoshop in your head. Now try painting that on the Rock.
A print of my piece Woman With a Pearl Necklace (private collection Switzerland) was recently included in the Sanlun Yishu Project in Beijing, China (made possible by the Black Rock Arts Foundation).
The good people over at Artisan were kind enough to do a quick write up on me over on their creative blog. There’s tons of good posts to check out, and this Artisan event that I will be performing a live painting at promises to be quite a hit. I’m very excited about this one. Top designers, artists and creatives from all over will be converging to take part in Artisan’s celebration of their 20th year of service in the creative industry! I’m very pleased to be a part of this.
The good people over at Zella Brown have once again made a beautiful presentation with my painting of Anna Simonovic titled Woman in Bright Pink. Go ahead and check it out over at 1444 N. Milwaukee in Chicago Illinois.
Heroes and civilians of the NYC. May I have your attention. I personally request your attendance at the MIXED BABIES party. Hosted by some beautiful people, they have hired me to create a gorgeous and sexy painting live and on the spot for your beautiful eyes. I highly recommend you make it out for this rip roaring, hop harvesting good time on the 17th of September.
I love you, and you really do have beautiful eyes by the way.
Woman in Vintage Sunglasses is currently hanging at the beautiful furniture boutique Zella Brown at 1444 N. Milwaukee, Chicago IL 60622. Go in there and take a look, or if it’s to far away, check out their website at zellabrown.com. Acrylic, Silver and Gold Leaf on Canvas 52″ x 60″ 132cm x 152cm 2008
In other news, this piece is currently running in the fine art showdown Saatchi Competition again. I need all the votes I can get. It’s a popularity contest, so help my popularity by using YOUR popularity! Please, email this, snail-mail this, bulletin this in MySpace, tell your friends on facebook, for you people of the past… why not tell your friendsters or give a shout out on hi5, write this on the bathroom wall at your local pub, send a bulk sms to everyone in your mobile, transmit messages into space, make a short film about this and post it on YouTube™, slip information about this into the local news station’s teleprompter, write a short play about this and put it on in the park, et cetera. Anyway you can help, I’d really appreciate it! http://www.saatchi-gallery.co.uk/showdown/index.php?showpic=156345
It's not by chance that I have chosen the human figure, and particularly the portrait, as a subject. The human face is the most visually captivating thing a person can see, and we identify with the human body and face more than anything else. I've heard a story that when someone asked John Ford, while setting up a shoot in the desert, "What are we going to shoot out here in the middle of nowhere?" Ford replied, "I'm going to shoot the most interesting thing in the world: the human face." more
