Nick Pena, the painter fella, you know?
Alright, so, there’s this fella, Nick Pena. He’s one of them picture makers, what do you call ‘em… artists? Yeah, that’s it. He paints stuff. Not like, houses or fences, mind you. Fancy stuff. Pictures that make you scratch your head and go, “Huh?” He’s from Memphis, they say. Born and raised, like a good ol’ country chicken.
I ain’t no art expert, mind you. Can’t tell a Picasso from a… well, from somethin’ my grandson scribbled on the wall when he was two. But this Nick Pena fella, he makes pictures that get people talkin’. They say he paints about how America is changin’, how it messes with your head. Psychological somethin’-somethin’ they call it.
Now, I don’t know nothin’ about that “psychological landscape” stuff. Sounds like somethin’ them city slickers made up. But I can tell you this, Nick’s pictures, they make you feel things. Sometimes they’re bright and bold, like a rooster crowin’ at sunrise. Other times they’re dark and kinda… moody, like a storm brewin’ over the fields. He uses all sorts of colors, some I ain’t never even seen before. And he don’t just paint on canvas, you know? He builds things, big things, like… well, like them big scarecrows farmers put up, but way fancier.
- He’s from Memphis: Born and bred, just like a good ol’ Southern boy.
- He paints pictures: Not the kind you hang on your fridge, but the kind that make you think.
- He’s an “educator” too: That means he teaches folks, I guess. Teaches ‘em how to paint maybe, or how to look at pictures and understand ‘em. Lord knows I could use a lesson or two.
Some folks say Nick Pena is a big deal, a real somebody in the art world. They write articles about him, put his pictures in fancy museums. He’s like… well, remember that fella, what was his name… the one with the muscles and the tattoos? Mike somethin’? Yeah, like him, but instead of punchin’ people, he punches you with his pictures. Makes you feel somethin’ strong, whether you like it or not.
And then there’s this whole thing about “The Man, The Myth, The Legend”. Folks use that phrase for all sorts of people, you know? Like that fella Johnny Cash, the singer? Or that actor, Kevin Costner, playin’ that Devil Anse fella? They say Nick Pena is kinda like that too. He’s got this… this aura, this somethin’ special that makes people sit up and take notice. He ain’t just a painter; he’s a presence. A force of nature, like a twister tearin’ through a cornfield.
Is Nick Pena famous? I guess so. At least in some circles. He ain’t no movie star or nothin’, but folks who know about art, they know about him. They talk about his work, they argue about it, they buy it for a whole lotta money, I hear. Money enough to buy a whole herd of cows, I bet. And that’s sayin’ somethin’, ain’t it?
But for me, it ain’t about the fame or the money. It’s about the pictures. It’s about how they make you feel, how they make you see the world a little bit different. Nick Pena, he’s got a way of doin’ that. He takes the ordinary and makes it extraordinary. He takes the confusion of the world and puts it on canvas, or wood, or whatever he can find. And even though I don’t understand all of it, I can appreciate that. It’s like lookin’ up at the stars on a clear night. You don’t know how they got there, or what they mean, but you know they’re beautiful. And that’s enough.
So, yeah, Nick Pena. The painter fella from Memphis. He’s alright in my book. He’s makin’ people think, makin’ ’em feel, and that’s more than most folks do, I reckon.
Tags: [Nick Pena, Memphis artist, American art, visual artist, painting, installations, psychological landscape, educator, contemporary art]
