beinArt Interview with Buddy Nestor

beinArt Interview with Buddy Nestor by Lana Gentry

Be he cursed or blessed with the innocent young face of a school boy, Philadelphia based artist Buddy Nestor creates unsettling female portraits which would seem to contradict his outward appearance of benevolence. Armed with muted palettes of grey, subtle variations and shocks of red, his subjects appear to drip like melting paraffin, as they blister and fall from their shifting forms. Portraiture takes on a new meaning, as he effectively portrays not only the innate qualities of his subjects, but also Nestor’s own unsettling and bizarre interpretations, as filtered through the lens of his unique eye.

Art, at it’s best, makes an impact. It cannot be argued that one finds it difficult to turn a blind eye to the deformed beauty of Nestor’s nightmarish though imaginative creations. Buddy Nestor finds himself ripping into the comfort of modern portraiture and our common expectations of the surreal by introducing something that is both nostalgic and new all at once. He constantly rises to the self-imposed challenge of horrifyingly deconstructing the female face. Buddy Nestor is a rising star of the art world and shows every indication that he is here to stay.

I let the paint dictate the direction of the piece. Then I add details. I don’t have funhouse mirror eyeballs. My paintings come from spending years in my studio figuring out what works for me. – Buddy Nestor

Lana Gentry: Philadelphia is associated with freedom. Are you generally met with objectivity and open-mindedness with regard to your art?

Buddy Nestor: Yes. Everyone I’ve met in Philadelphia has been really very positive about my work.

LG: Has your art consistently been on the path of facial deconstruction, or is this exploration of the human face a period of creation for you?

BN: No. The latest wave of portraits has been going on for almost two years. When I started painting I did strange portraits and surreal work, but around 2003 I moved onto making abstractions that were inspired by the sounds of the music I was listening to at the time. I was trying to render the sounds of metal bands like Neurosis, The Locust, and Pig Destroyer mixed with electronic music like Aphex Twin, Nabukazu Takemura, and Pan Sonic. I wound up with inner landscapes littered with glowing red blobs, which represented diseases hiding inside human bodies. From there I moved onto doing abstractions with little or no brushwork. I was using lots of spray paint, glue, sand paper, plaster, paper, and either throwing or dripping blobs of paint. When I did use a brush, it was taped to a two-foot spring. I was really trying to get rid of the obsessive control and rules that had been restraining my work. From there I decided to take the elements that were working, go back to painting with brushes, and apply these new methods to portraits. I still use spray paints, sanding and lots of finger painting. The result is what I’m doing now.

LG: Is there a conscious effort to restrict your work to the female form or have you rendered males in this capacity also?

BN: I just finished two males for themed group shows at Congregation and Distinction Galleries in California. I’ll definitely do more. But the psychological effects of painting women seem a little bit stronger because they’re more complex than guys.

LG: Tell us if you will, what is the significance of the red dotted elements in your work which appear recurrently in the faces of your subjects?

BN: They were definitely diseases in the older work and I don’t think they’ve become anymore positive. From a distance the viewer will certainly see blood, giant glowing pimples, inner fire. It’s a really stressful color and it seems to grow and pulse in the black holes. They also perpetuate the motion that breaths life into each piece.

LG: Do you ever find your own work unsettling on a personal level?

BN: I don’t sign a piece until it bothers me. There’s a scene in Kill Bill, maybe the second one, when Uma Thurman slaughters about fifty guys. When it’s over you find yourself laughing out loud at how bloody and brutal it was. That’s the type of feeling I’d like the viewer to get from my work.

LG: You’ve been met with both high praise and extreme criticism from common onlookers. Are you ever surprised or put off by negative effects your work has had on your viewers?

BN: I’m really surprised that I don’t get criticized personally for my work. I’m sure there are people out there that think I’m a nut job, but they haven’t really come forward to tell me. Most people that see the work for the first time say it’s really nice, which I don’t quite get, but I’m thankful. I really enjoyed the few people that saw it and said, “What the F..k?!?!”  I think they get it, or I got them.

LG: How would you describe or classify the work that you do… or can you?

BN: The term Neo-Grotesque seems to stick to it pretty well. I really like all of the artists that are being put in that category, so I’m glad that I’m seen the same way. I recently started hearing that, and I was a little unsure how to describe it before. When it comes up at baseball games or barbeques, I tell people I’m a “portrait artist”.

LG: You do indeed fit the bill. So, do you immediately see the path of deformation when viewing an intended subject for your work, or do you decide as you go?

BN: I don’t do any sketching before hand or any drawing on the canvas. I work quick and loose in gray tones and try to get the values mapped out. From there I use a combination of the movements that are left in the paint and match it with the rhythms in the hair. The subjects with long or wavy hair normally have a lot more action in the face.

LG: When viewing the average face on a daily basis, do you ever find yourself reinventing that face as you observe it in your mind’s eye? For instance, when you pass a woman in the grocery store, do you see her face as an evolving canvas as she speaks; a melting object of horror? Or is that reserved exclusively for your time behind the easel?

BN: Nope. Everyone’s face looks normal to me. When I’m working, I allow myself to lose control of thepaint for the first 80% of each piece. The faster I go the less time I have to make choices. I let the paint dictate the direction of the piece. Then I add details.  I don’t have funhouse mirror eyeballs. My paintings come from spending years in my studio figuring out what works for me.

LG: What plans and shows have you in the works right now?

BN: I’m in the “Black Plague” Group Show at Congregation Gallery right now. Jest in Time: The Phylogenesis of Clowns at Distinction opens August 14th.  I’m in a food themed group show in Copro Gallery in October.  I’m going to Cologne, Germany to take part in the Bloom Art Fair at the end of October. And the “Subtleties of Character” Show (curated by Dan Barry) at WWA Gallery in December.

LG: Thank you Buddy, for indulging us via these pressing questions that, I hope, will shed more light on your uniquely macabre and fascinating portraits.