Today we’d like to introduce you to Frederick Nitsch.
Frederick, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I began painting when I was a senior in college while writing my thesis in philosophy. A friend observed how obsessive and anxious I had been becoming, so she bought me a set of acrylic paints and encouraged me to just “move some colors around” as a meditative act. I began by attempting to create simple, representational scenes such as forests, mountain ranges, and city skylines. They did not look very good, but I found the process relaxing. After a few months, however, my friends began to tell me that whatever was going on in the spaces on my canvases where I had NOT been trying to create recognizable images were more interesting to them than my attempts at realism.
So I gave up my attempts at representation and began to pursue pure abstraction. Curiously, I found that people told me that they “saw” more distinct and detailed objects/figures in my abstract paintings than I had ever been able to create in my earlier scenic pieces. When I first put up a show at a cafe, somebody told me that my paintings reminded them of colorful Rorscach tests, and I welcomed this comparison.
Then, in graduate school (philosophy again), I happened upon a concept in the context of psychology that seemed to make sense of the entire endeavor I had unwittingly undertaken. Pareidolia refers to the unconscious imposition of pattern or meaning onto chaotic visual stimuli, the most famous examples being seeing shapes in clouds and the man in the moon. Fueled by the knowledge of this concept, I began to play more in my paintings with the suggestion – but never the definition – of organic shapes, and in my titles with the use of emotionally evocative phrases instead of literal, solitary interpretations of the pieces.
After dropping out of my doctoral program, I had a few very rough years of dealing with mental illness, during which time I did not paint very often. But when I did, it was very therapeutic. I continued to put up cafe shows here and there, and eventually started painting on wood in addition to canvas. In the last year and a half, I have been painting more than I ever have and my technique has become far more intentional and refined. I have also been getting my work into a few group gallery shows in addition to keeping them in rotation at various, and I am hoping to pursue an MFA at some point in the next few years.
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I make my art because getting lost for a few hours in an active contemplation of color and composition is a strange and intense meditation. I make my art because it is a challenge and a struggle to create something beautiful. And when a person tells me what they “see” in a painting I’ve made, I enjoy the innocence and excitement that occurs in the moment of playful free-association – because the more they talk, the less it’s even about me or my painting at all. My paintings don’t have a political or social message or perspective, except perhaps that they have neither of these things. And I want to create and share beauty so that I might feel like my own life is more beautiful for it.
How can artists connect with other artists?
I have been trying to collaborate with other artists as much as possible this past year. If I meet somebody at an opening (see The Visualist for a list of shows in the city) whose work I like, I just talk to them about a project we can do together. I have also found calls for collaborative art shows on Chicago Artist Resource and even on craigslist (or have posted them myself!) to work with others. In my experience, other artists have loved the idea of working together to make something new and unique.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
I have a list of current shows on the “Contact & Shows” section of my website, www.fwnitsch.wix.com/home
Please email me at frednitsch@gmail.com or on Instagram @fwnitsch with any inquiries!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.fwnitsch.wix.com/home
- Email: frednitsch@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fwnitsch/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/fwnitsch/
Image Credit:
S. Albritton
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