WILLIAM NELSON PRETTY, Desirable, Delightful, DANGEROUS
Cover BryantImage:Park(pg. 6-7)
10 Federal Street, Nantucket, MA 02554 (508) 325-4405
3 West 57th Street, 4th Fl, New York, NY 10019 (212) 570-4696
175 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT 06830 (203) 869-3664
235 C Worth Avenue, Palm Beach, FL 33480 (561) 770-3165 art@cavaliergalleries.com | www.cavaliergalleries.com
3September175SeptemberWILLIAMnewDANGEROUSDelightfulDesirablePRETTYworksbyNELSON22-September26GreenwichAve,Greenwich,CT29-October29West57thStreet,4thFloor,NewYork, NY View the entire exhibition online at www.cavaliergalleries.com
The energy in Nelson’s work is partly defined by his days playing college football, in front of 90,000 fans as a linebacker at the University of Florida. That stage inspired his next step, the big move to New York City in the mid 80’s.
That New York sensibility was emblazoned alongside Nel son’s newfound friend, Jim Gandolfini. In the first days of life in New York City, Nelson and Gandolfini spent time roaming the bars and streets. Gandolfini was about to book a role on a new HBO show playing the character of Tony Soprano. Nelson remembers a mutual friend asking, “Are you gonna get cable TV so you can watch Jim’s new show?” Gandolfini even tended bar at Nelson’s wedding.
“New York is where I was born, in a way. I moved there when I was 22, completely, emotionally, financially unprepared for adulthood. That’s where I became a person, where lots of firsts happened, my formative years. New York is an aspira tional place. There’s a fantastical aspect to the city.”
At his studio in Norwalk, Connecticut which is a converted computer chip factory called Firing Circuits, Nelson attends to every detail by hand. From stretching the canvases, to every last brush stroke, to personally framing the paintings, his work ethic is rooted in the hustle and grind. Nelson’s ear ly work had him hauling sheet rock up flights of stairs, and framing houses in the hot summer.
In William Nelson’s new exhibition, Brigitte Bardot, Audrey Hepburn, and Marilyn Monroe mix and mingle with your curiosity and imagination. Comics, classic Hollywood movie stars, Roman myths, and the landmarks of New York City are the boundaries for Nelson’s playing field. His work provokes questions, resets connections, and seeks your response.
Nelson’s journey began in Florida, where back in the 1960’s, he grew up in hurricane-proof cinder block houses. Lacking any creative environment, he spent much of his free time in the air-conditioned movie theater. “The one constant through the years has been the movies.” He fondly remem bers the awestruck moments watching The Sound of Music,Bonnie and Clyde, The Sting, and Jaws. Nelson loved the escape, the dream, and being swept into a different realm.
Sonora, Mexico takes you to the parched desert and a scene from the movie 100 Rifles. The cacti are blooming pink flow ers and Raquel Welch is leading a sexy revolt against the Mexican General’s train, storming down the tracks!
Intions.his
Nelson’s early mood was unbridled, intense, fiery…, some thing from the football field. “For far too long, when I paint ed something I was passionate about, it was inevitably something ticking me off. I confused anger for passion.”
When first married, Nelson recalls looking up, and fifty floors above the sidewalk was a cathedral. In the painting 51st and Lex, Audrey Hepburn is smok ing a cigarette beneath that cathedral. The elegance and glamour of the moment evokes memories from Breakfast at Tiffanys, and maybe your classic stroll through
His current work sets a similar stage, unmooring you from the everyday matrix, and placing you in an alternate reali ty, free to think, dream, and ask bigger, crazier, wilder ques-
painting New Orleans, Ann-Margret is a temptress, with a reminder to roll the dice and take a chance.
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It’s reminiscent of a scene from The Cincinnati Kid and a high stakes poker game filled with danger and seduction.
That grit drips onto the canvas in Nelson’s New York (Sunday) inspired by a 1963 rock’em sock’em romantic comedy. Those early jobs sometimes take us places on the journey we dream about, sometimes places we least expect. Nelson’s mantra all along: keep trusting, keep putting in the work, ev ery single day.
Thecertain.”subject
In Lower Manhattan, Rita Hayworth invites you back to the early 1900s, beneath the brass chandeliers and skylights, prominent in New York City’s original twenty-eight subway stations. Care for a drag? Could you really say no to such a glamorous enticement? Mind you, one could still smoke on the subway all the way through 1988.
“In the end, I want a neat and tidy painting. My style of painting is less a conscious decision and more a result of my studio practice. I give my best effort first drawing the compo sition in charcoal, which inevitably falls a little short. Then, I scumble it in again with oil paint and dry brush, refining
Nelson’sare.” work lures the eye but provokes other senses. In Ambassador Hotel, Marilyn Monroe holds a bottle of per fume. When asked what she wore to bed, Marilyn Mon roe famously replied, “I only wear Chanel No. 5.” Scent is the only one of the five senses to trigger emotion, before thought. What is the scent that triggers your most potent It’smemories?asubject
In 16th Arrondissement, a young, innocent Brigitte Bardot is surrounded by flowers, precariously armored with thorns. You would never guess her age in this painting. Could you? Should you?
While many of the subjects in Nelson’s paintings are from another era, he is often told, “You paint like a much younger artist.” He attributes that perception to, even at 60 years old, staying committed to the work. He believes it’s an energy level people are responding to. “I do it by myself, no assis tant. I pick em and put em down as fast as I ever did. I work every single day.”
“Sometimes it just comes down to guts and instinct.’’
Now married for 32 years, Nelson is the father of two grown sons. They love spending time together. The father says that’s well-deserved love and the artist says that’s hard-earned wisdom. Each painting is its own struggle, and triumph.
matter of Nelson’s work sets the stage for a dif ferent conversation. It feels unlikely, like running into an old love, who still evokes fantasies, and questions. Why is Mari lyn Monroe on a Twister box in the painting Springfield? You are summoned to enter a slightly altered universe, where you can make other choices, and live a different destiny. It’s a game of mental twister, pondering how your life might be different with a few slightly varied choices along the way.
Midtown on an unforgettable Fall night.
and correcting. Next, I use pigments and medium to paint it again, add more corrections, paint it again, and again, doing my best not to lose the drawing in the process. It is unde niable how inextricable the painting and drawing processes
The exhibition transcends far beyond the Big Apple. In Aegean Sea, the scene shifts to ancient Rome where Venus, the Roman goddess of love, was born as a fully-grown woman. When Terry Gilliam cast a 17 year old Uma Thur man for the movie The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, he thought, “Well, you can’t beat this for Venus, that’s for
Nelson’s work might leave you wondering and asking ques tions, but his style has a fine art resolve.
In 5th Avenue and Broadway, between the Flatiron Building, and Brigitte Bardot, curves abound on every corner of the canvas. What’s the meaning here? Is she on a ledge? Is it a portal? Maybe a tempting invitation?
also experienced in Munich. No man nor wom an can help but to fall madly, deeply, hopelessly in love with Louise Brooks. A sacred text lays out the three universal hu man weaknesses: lust, anger, and greed. Are you immune? Could you possibly resist? Can anyone be bought for a price?
oil2022on canvas
72 x 60 in.
Bryant Park
Frederick Austerlitz (Fred Astaire) was born in Omaha, Nebraska in 1899 and moved to New York City in 1905, with his family, to pursue a show business career. Margarita Carmen Cansino (Rita Hayworth) was born in 1918, in Brooklyn, into a family of dancers. Margarita’s Father immigrated from Spain in 1913 and Frederick’s father immigrated from Austria in 1893.
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Bryant Park in Midtown Manhattan, named for newspaper man William Cullen Bryant, was designated public land in 1686. It has seen a lot: construction of a reservoir, a crystal palace, the New York Public Library, the subway, Revolutionary War, Civil War, and 4,000 people on sunny days eating lunch al fresco. Before all that, it was a potter’s field. You can see both the Empire State building and the Chrysler Building from the Park.
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A Shark in Jets Clothing Rifle Range
Youth Nabbed as a Sniper
Kung Fu Girls
Blondie Live at CBGB
In the Flesh
In the Sun
I Love Playing with Fire Palisades Park East Village
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Heart Full of Soul
Little Girl Lies
Rip Her to Shreds
X-Offender
48 x 48 in.
oil2022on canvas
Look Good in Blue Man Overboard
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oil2022on canvas
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Lower Manhattan
When the train makes its final stop at Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall and you are directed to exit the train, stay on, or more precisely, stow away. The train slowly loops through City Hall station on its way to the uptown track. By the way, smoking was banned on the Subway in 1988.
60 x 60 in.
In 1904, City Hall was the southernmost of the original 28 stations of New York City’s first subway line. The station had a platform too short for the 10 car trains needed to meet demand when ridership grew, so it was closed in 1945. If you want to see the Romanesque Revival station with it’s Guastavino tile, brass chandeliers and skylights, Rita Hayworth, as the titular character in Gilda, suggests taking the downtown 6 train.
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In the film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, Showgirl Lorelei Lee, played by Marilyn Monroe, sings about a different philosophy of wealth building.
IDiamonds,Diamonds,don’tmean rhinestones
72 x 60 in.
oil2022on canvas
Tribeca
The Woolworth Building is a Gothic marvel designed by architect Cass Gilbert for millionaire five-and-dime storeowner Frank W. Woolworth. Woolworth’s rigid pricing policy was that a nickel or dime would buy any item in the store. Completed in 1913, the skyscraper was hailed as “the cathedral of commerce” and was the tallest building in the world until 1930.
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But diamonds are a girl’s best, best friend
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oil2022on canvas
The Flatiron Building makes a good picture no matter what angle you photograph. Be sure not to miss the French Renaissance details.
5th Avenue and Broadway
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60 x 60 in.
Brigitte Bardot makes a good picture no matter what angle you photograph. Be sure not to miss the French Renaissance details.
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Truman Capote, Breakfast at Tiffany’s and Three HollyStoriesGolightly
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The General Electric Building on Lexington Avenue, not to be confused with the GE Building at 30 Rock, is about a 10 minute walk from Tiffany’s. It is an elaborate Art Deco Skyscraper built in 1931. Unlike Tiffany’s, you can get breakfast there… if you have to.
“You know the days when you get the mean reds? Paul Varjak: The mean reds. You mean like the blues? Holly Golightly: No. The blues are because you’re getting fat, and maybe it’s been raining too long. You’re just sad, that’s all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you’re afraid, and you don’t know what you’re afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?”
60 x 60 in.
oil2022on canvas
51st and Lex
(Audrey Hepburn):
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Ambassador Hotel
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oil2022on canvas
60 x 60 in.
When asked what she wore to bed, Marilyn Monroe famously replied, “I only wear Chanel No. 5.”
In 1921, Parisian fashion designer Coco Chanel asked Russian perfumer to the czars Ernest Beaux to create something “that smells like a woman, not a flower bed.” Beaux created a highly complex blend of florals - including rose, ylang-ylang and jasmine.
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16th Arrondissement
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40 x 60 in.
Brigitte Bardot grew up in the fashionable 16th arrondissement and studied dance at the Paris Conservatory. She blossomed into a beautiful rose and, at the tender age of 15, graced the pages of French Elle magazine. Perhaps roses have thorns to protect them from being eaten by animals who might be attracted to their beauty.
oil2022on canvas
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72 x 60 in.
When Terry Gilliam cast a 17 year old Uma Thurman for the movie The Adventures of Baron Munchausen, he thought, “Well, you can’t beat this for Venus, that’s for certain.”
oil2022on canvas
Aegean Sea
Venus, the Roman goddess of love, was born as a ful ly-grown woman. She was conceived when the Titan Cronus castrated his father, the god Uranus. The sev ered genitals fell into the sea, fertilizing it. Venus was believed to be the idealized woman.
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72 x 60 in.
oil2022on canvas
She stars in a musical production, prevails in a struggle for a gun with her new husband and escapes her manslaughter trial with the assistance of men under her spell and a fire alarm.
Munich
In the German silent film, Pandora’s Box, Lulu (Louise Brooks) is a young woman with many “patrons.” She is so beautiful and alluring no man nor woman can help but to fall madly, deeply, hopelessly in love with her and despair.
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72 x 60 in.
oil2022on canvas
New Orleans
In The Cincinnati Kid, “The Kid” takes on “The Man” in a high stakes poker game in New Orleans, hoping to become the man himself. At the table are The Kid, The Man and “Pig” as his best friend “Shooter” and “Lady Fingers” take turns dealing. The Kid is tempted by Shooter’s wife Melba (Ann-Margret) an unlikely Queen High Straight Flush makes an appearance as well as a penny pitch with a shoe shine boy.
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oil2022on canvas
72 x 60 in.
In Thelma and Louise, Thelma (Geena Davis) joins her friend Louise on a road trip in Louise’s 1966 Ford Thunderbird. They become fugitives from justice when a scumbag attacks Thelma and gets what’s coming to him courtesy of Louise and her Colt revolver.
Arkansas
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Texas
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Leslie Benedict: Money isn’t everything, Jett. Jett Rink: Not when you’ve got it.
60 x 60 in.
In the movie Giant, James Dean plays the penniless ranch hand Jett Rink, whose fortunes eventually change. Elizabeth Taylor plays Leslie, the refined wife of cattle rancher Bick Benedict played by Rock Hudson.
oil2022on canvas
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60 x 60 in.
Somewhere in the West
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oil2022on canvas
In the movie The Outlaw, Billy the Kid and Doc Holliday… um … well… that’s not important. The most weirdly interesting thing about the movie is producer/ director Howard Hughes’ concentration on newcomer Jane Russell’s … um… charms. Of the 53 movies the National Legion of Decency placed on its condemned list through 1943, only Howard Hughes’ The Outlaw was produced by a major U.S. studio.
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oil2022on canvas
60 x 48 in.
Sonora, Mexico
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In the film 100 Rifles, Raquel Welch teams up with Football Hall of Famer Jim Brown and Burt Reynolds. They lead the Yaqui people against the Mexican Army and ambush the Mexican General’s train and overcome his soldiers.
Raquel Welch was born as Jo Raquel Tejada on September 5, 1940, in Chicago, Illinois. Her father, Armando Tejada, was an aeronautical engineer from La Paz, Bolivia.
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The Slinky, manufactured by James Industries in Clifton Heights, Pennsylvania, was invented by naval mechanical engineer, Richard T. James in 1943 when he was developing metal springs that could support and stabilize sensitive instruments aboard ship in rough seas.
Nicole Kidman is an Oscar and Emmy Award-winning actress who has been one of the industry’s most sought-after performers. Recently, Kidman walked the runway for ‘The Master’ of haute couture Cristóbal Balenciaga wearing a silver, faux-metal one shoulder gown featuring a lengthy train.
What walks down stairs, alone or in pairs and makes a slinkity sound? A spring, a spring, a marvelous thing! Everyone knows it’s Slinky!
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oil2022on canvas
Clifton Heights
48 x 48 in.
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oil2022on canvas
Twister is a 1964 game played on a plastic mat. A spinner tells players where they have to place their hands and feet.
Marilyn Monroe placed her hands and feet in wet cement and were forever immortalized in the forecourt of the famous Grauman’s Chinese Theatre on Hollywood Boulevard in 1953.
60 x 60 in.
Springfield
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Twister is produced by Milton Bradley Company, an American board game manufacturer established in Springfield, Massachusetts, in 1860.
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New York (Sunday)
Sunday in New York is a 1963 American romantic comedy starring Jane Fonda as the virtuous Eileen Tyler. Mike Mitchell (Rod Taylor) gets socked by Eileen’s brother, Adam (Cliff Robertson). Later, Mike gets socked by Eileen’s old boyfriend, Russ Wilson (Robert Kulp), a self-absorbed scion of New York’s richest family. In the end, Mike ends up with Eileen… in Tokyo!
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Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots is a two-player action toy and game and was first manufactured by the Marx toy company in 1964.
48 x 60 in.
oil2022on canvas
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The artist’s latest series combines famous faces of past or present with iconic American landscape and cityscape vignettes and a particular emphasis on New York City landmarks. In a painting titled 51st and Lex, Audrey Hepburn of Breakfast at Tiffany’s reclines with effortless elegance along the bottom edge of the paint ed picture frame, set in black-and-white glory against a richly-colored background depicting the 1931 Gen eral Electric Building’s (also known as the RCA Victor Building) Gothic Revival crown. A nod to the Lexington Avenue landmark’s origins takes the form of lightning dancing in the midnight blue sky. The skyscraper’s pinnacle is framed by a large circle and bordered by a pastiche of Art Deco-styled stained glass, and comic-book-inspired gargoyles.
After thirty-six years in the gallery business, I can tell within minutes of meeting someone in their studio en vironment whether they will thrive as a professional fine artist. That day in the Firing Circuits Studios building in Norwalk, Connecticut, I quickly discovered that Bill was the real deal. He has the magic blend of vision, passion, and commitment (read: hard work) necessary for any artist to establish, sustain, and grow a collector base.
painting. The animated television character Sponge Bob Square Pants occupies the aqueous background, smoking a bubble pipe with eyes closed in contentment, while French oceanographer Jacques-Yves Cousteau (1910–1997) looks directly at the viewer from the corner of the canvas. Cousteau’s face is rendered in a nearly photorealistic grayscale yet his cap and the pipe he grips between his teeth become almost cartoonish in their depiction, and Cousteau’s portrait is outlined in black as if he has stepped into an animated world.
W
Bob and Jacques oil2019on canvas
60 x 60 in.
Each composition is a celebration of imagination, at once consummately contemporary and tinged with nostalgia. Bob and Jacques (2019) combines two famed undersea personalities in one five-foot-squareframe,
illiam Nelson’s paintings revel in contradictions, offering viewers and collectors a powerful dose of seri ous fun. Bill is a serious artist, pursuing and perfecting his craft with diligence, employing a traditional medium and historical techniques to inventive and original ends. When I first saw his work, on a printed brochure he had mailed to various galleries, I questioned wheth er the paintings were, in fact, oil paintings, rather than mixed media works, possibly involving digital art, col lage, or printing on canvas. So, I scheduled a studio visit to see for myself.
Bill’s love of his work, of the process and the product, is obvious when you meet him and palpable through his paintings. His art is big and bold. It compels curi osity and conversation. Bill paints what he wants to see on the canvas, drawing from the visual database of his mind, spanning the earliest memories of his childhood to present day. Vintage comic books, 1960s-and 1970s-era cartoons, the Golden Age of Hollywood, and pop culture celebrities coexist on his picture planes in striking combinations—often funny, sometimes sexy, always intriguing.
Bill uses his considerable technical skill to play on the canvas, occasionally employing visual tricks such as endowing his portrait subjects with a ubiquitous gaze, such that the subject’s eyes seem to follow a viewer as they move from one side of the painting to the other. He plays with two- and three-dimensional form, flirt ing with photorealism then yielding to passages of flat tened space and line drawing. He is clever in his use of shallow depth, overlap, and picture-within-a-picture devices.
Each of Bill’s canvases are similarly dense with refer ences to people, places, movies, television, comics, art history, national landmarks, even social media. They are visual feasts, constructivist both in their creation and their interpretation, unique to the individual ex periencing the work and their personal histories. Nel son’s own history plays an outsize role in his visual repertoire. While growing up in Florida, he devoured the Sunday comics, visited the movie theater frequently—especially on the hottest summer days for a respite from the sun, and was keenly aware of the larger-thanlife cultural presence of Disney World and the unique ly Floridian Gatorland theme park. What he lacked in exposure to the fine arts, he made up for in his avid consumption of the images surrounding him—draw ings, films, the sculptural elements of the landscape and built environment. As a young adult, he moved to New York City, where he earned his MFA at the School of Visual Arts, met and married his wife, began his career as an artist, and where his children were born. The city and its architectural marvels opened his eyes to a whole new visual panoply, and now makes its way onto his canvases as muse and memory.
Throughout his life, the movies have been an abiding love and constant companion. Aside from the depic tions of famous actors, scenes ripped from movie post ers and reframed in the narratives of his paintings, Bill has a clear affinity for creating dramatic tension in his work. He is a master of setting the stage, scripting the scene, bringing disparate characters together with a finely-tuned friction that makes his pictures sizzle and pop, commanding our attention much in the same way as the big screen has always captured his own.
Ronald J. Cavalier
President, Cavalier Galleries51st & Lex oil2022on canvas 60 x 60 in. 43
Over the past several years of working together, I have noticed, with admiration, that Bill seems to enjoy push ing boundaries with each new painting, stretching him self as an artist, making rules and then breaking them, because, after all, why not? It’s his vision and he’s in control of the outcome, including the element of sur prise. For William Nelson’s collectors, dealers, and ad mirers, one of the best parts about his artmaking is that you just never know what he will come up with next.
Aegean Sea, 2022 oil on canvas, 72 x 60 in. pg. 22-23
1. 16th Arrondissement, 2022 oil on canvas, 40 x 60 in. pg. 20-21
Bryant Park, 2022 oil on canvas, 72 x 60 in. pg. 6-7
East Village, 2022 oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in. pg. 8-9
51st and Lex, 2022 oil on canvas, 60 x 60 in. pg. 16-17
Arkansas, 2022 oil on canvas, 72 x 60 in. pg. 28-29
Exhibition Checklist
3.2. 6.5.4. 9.8.7.
Ambassador Hotel, 2022 oil on canvas, 60 x 60 in. pg. 18-19
Clifton Heights, 2022 oil on canvas, 48 x 48 in. pg. 36-37
5th Avenue and Broadway, 2022 oil on canvas, 60 x 60 in. pg. 14-15
12.11.10. 15.14.13. 18.17.16.
Springfield, 2022 oil on canvas, 60 x 60 in. pg. 38-39
New York (Sunday), 2022 oil on canvas, 48 x 60 in. pg. 40-41
Texas, 2022 oil on canvas, 60 x 60 in. pg. 30-31
Somewhere in the West, 2022 oil on canvas, 60 x 60 in. pg. 32-33
Sonora, Mexico, 2022 oil on canvas, 60 x 48 in. pg. 34-35
Lower Manhattan, 2022 oil on canvas, 60 x 60 in. pg. 10-11
Munich, 2022 oil on canvas, 72 x 60 in. pg. 24-25
Tribeca, 2022 oil on canvas, 72 x 60 in. pg. 12-13
New Orleans, 2022 oil on canvas, 72 x 60 in. pg. 26-27
Contemporary Representational Art, Cavalier Galleries, Palm Beach, FL, 2022
April Fools, The Nest Gallery, Bridgeport, CT, 2012 Condition X, SVA Westside Gallery, New York, NY, 2011
William Nelson: Confluence, Cavalier Galleries, New York, NY, 2020
Sprouting Spaces, Harbor Point Artist in Residence, Stamford, CT, 2013 - 2014 Joyce and Bob Jones Prize, 32nd Annual Faber Birren Color Awards Show, 2012 Artist in Residence, School of Visual Arts MFA Computer Art, 2009 Artist Residency in Painting and Multimedia, School Of Visual Arts, New York, NY, 2009 Institute for Computers in the Arts Award, New York, NY, 1993
The Palm Beach Show, Palm Beach, FL, 2020
Close to the Edge, Katonah Museum Artists Association, Pound Ridge, NY, 2015 Time and Place, The Hammond Museum, North Salem, NY, 2015
A Different Perspective, Chase Edwards Contemporary, Bridgehampton, NY, 2020
Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, West Palm Beach, FL, 2022
RE:FORMATION, Gallery Madison Park, New York, NY, 2018 Artists of the Premier Collection, Gordon Fine Arts Gallery, Stamford, CT, 2017 Baba Yaga Eats, Fields Studio Gallery, New York, NY, 2016
Awards and Honors
Education
School of Visual Arts, New York City, MFA Computer Art, 1993 University of Florida, Gainesville, FL, BS Interdisciplinary Studies, 1984
Pop Up Show, Christopher Robert Gallery, Stamford, CT, 2014 Sprouting Spaces, Fernando Luis Alvarez Gallery, Stamford, CT, 2013 Faber Birren Art Show, Stamford Art Association, CT, 2012 - Prize Awarded
WILLIAM NELSON 1961
b.
Together Again, Firing Circuits Artists, St. Paul’s on the Green, Norwalk, CT, 2016
New York State of Mind Online Exhibition, Cavalier Ebanks Galleries, 2020 Annual Small Works Online Exhibition, Cavalier Ebanks Galleries, 2019 Rare Aspen, Aspen, CO, 2019
The Palm Beach Show, Palm Beach, FL, 2021
Art Miami, Miami, FL, 2021
Art New York, New York, NY, 2019
Nexus, Cavalier Ebanks Galleries, Greenwich, CT, 2019 Palm Beach Modern + Contemporary, Palm Beach, FL, 2019 Mixed Messages, Cavalier Gallery, New York, NY, 2018
Selected Exhibitions
UNABASHED, The Portrait and Figure, Dacia Gallery, New York, NY, 2011
We were both starting our families and working late nights. It was a hustle, but with Bill, it never felt like work. We would share ideas, talk about what we wanted to do, and most importantly, we would laugh.
“There is no question in my mind that the paintings in this show are William Nelson’s finest works to date.”
The only other married student in our class was this loud, funny, handsome guy named Bill who could draw like crazy and never stopped talking about football. I knew nothing about football, I still know nothing about football, but we became fast friends nevertheless.
Carlos Saldanha is an art collector and the first Brazilian to receive more than one Oscar Nomination. His upcoming live-action film, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Is scheduled for release this January by Sony Pictures.
I have been following Bill’s career for a very long time and I am happy to say I have a few pieces of my own. There is no question in my mind that the paintings in this show are William Nelson’s finest works to date.
I met Bill over 30 years ago when we were studying at the School of Visual Arts. I was fresh off of the boat from Brazil, pursuing a dream, and living in New York City with my wife, Isabela, where we didn’t know a soul outside of my Aunt Marie.
Carlos Director/Animator/ProducerSaldanha
He has always impressed me with his talent and I am in awe of his ability to combine his thoughtful work and his witty sense of humor. There is a lot of those old days in Bill’s latest series of paintings. I see us getting to know the city together, talking about our favorite movies and works of art, and laughing during all those late nights.
175 Greenwich Avenue, Greenwich, CT (203) 869-3664 3 West 57th Street, 4th Floor, New York, NY (212) 570-4696 art@cavaliergalleries.com | www.cavaliergalleries.com
