Goodbye Nathan Oliveria

When I was a young artist, stranded-I mean living- in Fremont, Ohio, I poured over the works of the Bay Area figurative painters. In 1994, before the internet made any image I could want to see available, I scoured bookstores for painting books. Probably on one of my trips up to Ann Arbor, which had a Borders with a large selection of art books, I found:



I spent hours looking through this book. I loved Joan Brown instantly.



It was also my introduction to Richard Diebenkorn, Elmer Bishoff, and David Park. And of course, Nathan Oliveria, who died last week.



Looking at these artists in the book was NOTHING compared to seeing their work for real. I didn't get that chance until maybe 1999 when I visited my sister in San Francisco. The reality of the paint, the tactility of the surface, paint thinly dripping and thickly applied with a trowel, these painters did it all. And it is knock-you-on-your-ass beautiful.

The SFMOMA website has a number of videos of Nathan Oliveria speaking about his work including a segment on his Windhover Project. To which, if you've been looking at all my bird photos, you can imagine I relate. A little reminder to revist mentors from the past.