NATHAN OLIVEIRA Figural Variants
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE NATHAN OLIVEIRA Figural Variants April 1- May 8, 2021 540 Ramona Street Palo Alto, CA Nathan Oliveira, Imi #3, 1990, 20 x 16 inches, oil on canvas Pamela Walsh Gallery is pleased to present Nathan Oliveira: Figural Variants, an exploration of Oliveira’s visual language as it evolved through his dedicated study of the figure. Associated with the Bay Area Figurative Movement, he was amongst artists who returned to figural subjects after the explosion of Abstract Expressionism swept through New York in the 40s and 50s. Oliveira’s work was rooted in his fascination with abstracting the human form while rendering it with a sense of honesty. He regularly worked with live models, learning their forms through repeated observation and conjuring figural variants through a diversity of mediums. Throughout his extensive career, Oliveira developed his artistic practice to flow seamlessly across multiple disciplines into one continuous voice. We are delighted to share a selection of paintings, sculptures, and prints from 1975 – 2007, highlighting his mastery of the human figure. A key figure in American Art,Nathan Oliveira (1928-2010) was a persistently individualistic artist who took his own path in defiance of the ideology of the time. With an unshakable concern for the figure, Oliveira was a prominent member of the Bay Area Figurative Movement, along with Richard Diebenkorn, David Park, Elmer Bischoff and others. A resident of Palo Alto, he taught at Stanford University for 32 years as a Professor of Studio Art. In 1959, Oliveira gained early fame as a painter, when four of his works were selected by Peter Selz for his curatorial debut exhibition, New Images of Man, at the Museum of Modern Art in NY. Nathan Oliveira started exploring the theme of the solitary figure in the 1950s, following the dictates of his personal manifesto,“make things out of paint”. Standing apart from his Abstract Expressionist peers, Oliveira’s early inspiration and influence came from the Expressionist Max Beckmann, whom he studied with at Mills College in Oakland. He also had a great affinity for Giacometti, Dubuffet and de Kooning. They were artist’s artists; with de Kooning, he could discuss the elusiveness of the human figure and the ephemeral experience of seeing it within the canvas. Oliveira’s subjects were drawn from within, from his internal quest to understand the human condition and our collective need to understand our place in the universe. Oliveira painted to create spaces with no visible beginnings or boundaries. “I am an abstract painter who finds the figure.” His variations of the abstracted human figure in ambiguous, mysterious spaces were a constant theme throughout his career and can be seen in his paintings, monotypes, watercolors and sculptures. Oliveira identified the most important characteristics of his work as chance, risk and gesture, which he combined with a personal concern for the more traditional aspects of figure painting. The apotheosis of his style evolved from his search for an expressive relationship between form and space that found resonance in his presentation of the single figure. The human touch, so often absent in Contemporary work, is always present in the work of Nathan Oliveira. Pamela Walsh Gallery was founded in 2019 in Palo Alto, CA. The gallery represents a talented roster of contemporary artists who explore their creative expressions across a variety of mediums. PWG also represents the Nathan Oliveira Estate; Oliveira was a prominent member of the Bay Area Figurative Movement and taught at Stanford University for 32 years. The gallery is located in the heart of downtown Palo Alto in a historic building designed by Stanford architect Birge Clark in 1929. QUOTES: The gesture must be correct. If the gesture is correct, your mind really creates the reality of the figure, and it is not necessary to hang on all the rest [of the details]... - Nathan Oliveira What I’m concerned about now is creating a metaphor for what the figure really is.- Nathan Oliveira If a figure doesn’t look back at you, you forget it.- Nathan Oliveira LINKS: Website: pamelawalshgallery.com Exhibition: https://bit.ly/3rNGQOZ Oliveira’s CV/ Bio: https://bit.ly/3rFAYXU PRESS INQUIRIES: Pamela Walsh (415) 420-5122 [email protected] FOLLOW US ON SOCIAL MEDIA: @pamelawalshgallery @pamelawalshgallery @PWalshGallery /company/pamela-walsh-gallery/.