2011
May 21, 2011, I heart photograph: intersections: subject redacted
May 20, 2011, Art’s New View: The 12 best Colorado artists 35 and under – The Denver Post. Kyle MacMillan writes;
Residence: Denver
Media: Painting and drawing
Why we like him: Abels creates sublimely understated works that are poised between the real and imagined, with their enigmatic narratives and hushed tonal effects. He has all the ingredients, including refined technique and a wholly distinctive vision, to forge a major national career.
Art-world cred: Emerging artist of the year, The Denver Post, 2009
His take: “My work is primarily realistically based paintings and drawings. They explore the landscape and its inhabitants. Many of my images depict a paused narrative, such as a parachutist in free fall or an encounter with a bison in the woods.”
Influences: David Lynch, Vija Celmins, Henning Kles
Art today: “Artists have access to such a wealth of visual material, it is easy to become overstimulated and difficult to find meaning.”
- April 2011 issue of Art Forum
As part of the review of Mamma Andersson at the Aspen Art Museum;
…”Andersson’s distinctive voice, anchored in dark, Bergmanesque sensibility of her native Scandinavia, perhaps holds a special resonance for Colorado, because of the parallels between its topography and that of Sweden. Certainly, some of the state’s artists, such as Nathan Abels of Denver, tread similar physical and emotional landscapes in their work. Abel’s painting ‘Kairos’, 2010, for example, offers a stark enigmatic view of a lonely road cutting through an icy landscape that looks both real and alien.”
Kyle MacMillan, Art Forum, April 2011, page 223
