Opening Friday, 30 April 2010
6:00p – 11:00p
Ugly Step Sister Art Gallery
1044 W Fulton Mkt.
Chicago, IL

The Art Trade is here in Chicago, and they want YOU to know it. Come on by the Ugly Step Sister Art Gallery and check out some beautiful works by a myriad of artists and visual masterminds. Check out more from The Art Trade at thearttrade.com and get a good idea for what I’m talking about.

I’ll have a huge diptych in the show as well as some smaller framed drawings.

It’s also Artropolis at the Merchandise Mart’s preview night on Friday. So go ahead, put on some nice threads, stop by the Ugly Step Sister Art Gallery and have a chat with me, then scuttle on down to the Art Fair on a free trolly! Sure, the show will be up for the whole month of May, but the party will be going down this Friday!

Here’s a vid by the peeps over at The Art Trade I’m their calendar boy for the month of May.

Okay. So I’ve done some things since. I’m trying to push that second figure back and pull Focus to the right side. The black glasses on the left are striking and I feel keep the composition rolling in that direction. That and the bright pink lips over there. So… I’m still working out what to do with the background. Some critique from a good painter friend of mine, David Bearon, suggested that I put some rusty orange in the background to pop out what used to be the blue of the left figures dress. Since that blue is gone, his opinion might change. I still think it could work, but am very open to your suggestions. Whatever it is, it needs to be something solid enough that it brings that left character a little more forward

Anywho, leave me some comments and let me know what you think. (more…)

I was recently interviewed by Steve Gray over at Artist Re-Source. Check it out here: Pete Nawara on Artist Re-Source.

I was featured today over on the Escape Into Life website. A great website with a lot of really great talent being shown off. I’m very honored to be placed up with the likes of them. Take a look!

I’ve been asked once again to participate in the ‘One Inspired Evening’ art auction to help end homelessness. This time, I’ve not only been asked to donate a piece, but also to preform a live painting at the event which will go on auction that night. Please, take a look at the event information and come on by. It’s for a good cause!

Here’s my latest live number that I banged out in 4 hours in the sweltering New York heat at the entrance to ‘The Highline’. It’s a 5 by 6 foot canvas that I covered with two portraits of Miss Emily Caldwell for the new Vio softdrink.

I was featured today (June 1st 2009) as artist of the day at brooklynartproject.com.

“Black Keys – Nashville” Painting Chosen as ARTDOXA Artwork of the Day.

The people over at ARTDOXA.com has chosen a painting of mine to be artwork of the day for April 20, 2009. Congratulations!

To see it on the cover today, go here: http://www.artdoxa.com

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.

Read the whole article

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).

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Photograph by Nick Gerber

Check out the Artisan Creative Blog for a look at their post documenting the Match That Gives Back event where I was invited to do a live painting.

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.

Link to the original post.

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.

A new interview with Camel is up on their website. Take a look at the video portion from youtube.

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.

I mean it.

See you there.

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

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OPENING SATURDAY MARCH 28TH!

Pete Nawara in the Picturing Mary Group Exhibition March 22 to May 24, 2008

Annunciation
Mixed Media on Canvas – 2004

PICTURING MARY: CONTEMPORARY IMAGES OF THE MADONNA

The Orleans Street Gallery presents Picturing Mary: Contemporary Images of the Madonna from March 22 to May 24, 2008. This group exhibition will feature fresh interpretations of the Virgin Mary, stretching traditional representations and crossing cultural boundaries. Through painting, photography and mixed media, Chicago-area artists reflect upon and rephrase the Marian image. Selections span the allegorical and the literal, the maternal and the divine. Curated by Ruth Nelson.

Artists include: Diana Arrieta, Chantal Baros, Dorisa Camps, Margaret Carsello, Alicia Chester, Brian Dortmund, Makeba Kedem-DuBose, Elisabeth Dzuricsko, Bro. Mark Elder CM, Valerie Fuqua, Felipe Garcia, LeeAnn Gause, Diane Green, Violet Jaffe, Aphrodite Navab and Richard Jochum, Pete Nawara, Kristine O’Reilly, Enrique Ortiz, Elizabeth Parker, Rosie Presti, Cheryl Quick, Ben Speckmann, and Rachel Weaver Rivera.

The Picturing Mary Opening Reception will be held on Saturday, March 29, 2008 from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. Orleans Street Gallery is located in the Bourbon Street section of Pheasant Run Resort, 4051 East Main Street, St. Charles, IL 60174. Gallery hours are Thursday 12-7 p.m., Friday and Saturday 12-8 p.m., Sunday 11 a.m . – 4 p.m. For more information contact Gallery Director Anni Holm at art@orleansStreetGallery.com or 630.524.5048

Here’s a write up about the show in the Daily Herald.

Uptown Promo HD
Uploaded by lukesnellin

Check it out people. All of these drawings are on sale until April 15th. A measly $150 per piece. THAT’S RIGHT! Only $150. This does NOT include shipping or framing. Buy 2 for $250 and save yourself some doughnuts. I know, I know… it’s crazy. Click on an image for a closer view and to make comments on the piece. Email me if you’re interested in buying one.

Hey all you Chicagoan tricksters. Check out my latest studio work on display over at the beautiful Zella Brown. It’s for sale, so get down there and buy it before someone else scoops it up. Why not get that beautiful sofa or a lovely accent pillow as well?

Ladies, Gentlemen and the rest of you. I will be off to London this March to help Poussez with the launch of their all new monthly Sunday madness at Nottinghill Arts Club. That’s right! I’ll be performing a live painting at this sure to be SLAMMBASTIC filled with laserbolts of happiness and swishy good times. I’m expecting Poussez will be feeding me full of delicious rum drinks and pushing the groove that gets me creative juices flowing. It’ll be the sexiest night yet over at NHAC so be sure to check this one out if you’re going to be in the London area. If you’re not.. it might be the right time for a visit. No joke. I’ll keep you updated on this.

Artist Profile: Pete Nawara
By Tom Jeffreys

© Pete Nawara

American artist Pete Nawara is fascinated by one thing: beauty. It’s possible that he finds other stuff interesting too, but basically, for him, beauty is the thing. Beauty, of course, can mean a number of different things: a pretty face, a hot body, a great painting… But beauty also always has to do with concepts of beauty. Ok, so that sounds obvious, but beauty is not just intrinsic: concepts of beauty vary (often quite dramatically) according to society, culture, historical period etc. You wouldn’t see Titian’s plump white ladies on the front cover of Vogue, for example.

Nawara’s is quite a straightforward concept. He has his subjects pose in front of a camera as if it were a mirror. They ‘check themselves out’: they pout, frown, style their hair, smooth their wrinkles, adjust their ties… Nawara then takes these images, fiddles with them on a computer for a bit, projects the finished composition onto a canvas, and colours it with thinned acrylic paint, gouache markers, and gold leaf.
This process is interesting in that the finished images portray individuals engaging with themselves, worrying about the parts they don’t like or admiring the parts they do. Nawara explores the way in which people see themselves, and how this can never be direct or objective. The way in which he distorts the images and lends them a kind of computerized pop-art aesthetic echoes the way in which identity is always (at least, in part) an effect of the consumption of media.

One major thing that Nawara can be admired for is that he seeks quite resolutely to leave excessive theorising to others. Not for him the nonsensical po-mo claptrap spouted by those whose work cannot stand alone without lengthy paragraphs of sub-Deleuzean explanatory flim-flam. Nawara rejects what he describes as “endless babbling” in favour of this simple statement: “I strive to make objects that are aesthetically pleasing”.

So, on these terms, does he succeed? Well, there’s quite a heavy pop-art vibe. If you hate Warhol, then you might not like this stuff. But there’s more too: Nawara’s work is not simply slick or advert-flat. Man in a Houndstooth Suit, for example, shows both boldly clashing patterns and a sensitivity in the depiction of differing facial expressions. And the use of gold leaf in works such as St. Peter imbues the subject with an almost kitsch quasi-Catholic beauty. Direct but also quite subtle, intelligent but mercifully not over-theorized, Nawara’s paintings are definitely worthy of greater attention.

To see Pete in action, head on down to uptownboogiedown on 9th March.

[From http://www.spoonfed.co.uk/articles/Tom/123 ]