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NICK Z
We hassle him anyway
By MARTÍN CABALLERO
del.ico.us
reddit!
"I feel kind of old."
For an old man, Nick Z could hardly find himself in a less geriatric setting. Seated in the spacious digs of the Fourth Wall Project on a rainy Tuesday afternoon, the 29-year-old Boston native is surrounded by the recurring youthful, fantastical characters who live in his art. Giant, bulging eyes glowering in varied expressions stare out from the far wall, while a pair of long serpentine creatures resembling barracudas on steroids greet people at the front. Aside from the decidedly more sophisticated execution, both works bear the unmistakable mark of an adolescent, creative sensibility, even if he doesn't feel quite like a kid anymore.
"The simplicity is lost when you get older. I don't feel as free anymore. You don't have that same innocence that comes with being young and discovering things on your own," said Z, born Nicholas Zaremba. "My work is a mixture of my own teenage memories and what I see kids doing now."
Regardless of which President Bush you grew up with, observing the interplay of each cultural generation reveals an unexpected depth to Zaremba's first Boston exhibition in over a year, Don't Hassle Me I'm Local. The bright colors and exaggerated features of his human subjects draw from Takashi Murakami and the 16-bit animation of the old Sega Genesis console, both of which Zaremba cites as artistic influences. But his strongest works are marked with a subtle element of post-modern perversion and danger, drawing comparison closer to Alice in Wonderland than Sonic the Hedgehog.
"I like to give people something they've seen before, but shown in a different way," said Zaremba. Perception is a central theme in the exhibition, as cartoon eyes of various sizes and expression cover the walls, observing everything. "The cartoon eyes make me think of being watched all the time. There's a paranoia within it, but at the same time, it's still presented in this happy, inviting sort of way."
The recognition of this juxtaposition doesn't mean that Zaremba is a consciously high-minded artist, however. He's more interested in people's instinctual reactions to his art than an academic analysis, which is perhaps one of the reasons he opted to attend UMass Boston rather than a formal art institute. In his aesthetic, as well as his personality, Zaremba describes himself as "viewing things from a pedestrian level"; he admits a disdain for overthinking his work, which simply represents his ongoing thoughts. But that hasn't impeded several high-profile clients such as Pepsi Co. and upscale fashion retailer Neiman Marcus from commissioning work from him.
Consciously or not, Zaremba's newest exhibition has continued his expansion from painting to various forms of mixed media. The nostalgia factor manifests in a spruced-up old rocking chair and in the lonely, paint-dipped PlayStation controllers suspended on wires from the ceiling. But his images remain the most arresting works, those that reward careful inspection of details and contrasting themes of naïve and adult pessimism. When I mention that, stylistically, some of his paintings remind me of Picasso's phantasmagoric Guernica, Zaremba cited another significant cultural figure in which he finds comparison.
"I think my work is kind of 'Bart Simpson.' It has a little bit of the rebelliousness and humor in the face of the conservative, relatively strict artistic tastes of Boston."
DON'T HASSLE ME I'M LOCAL
UNTIL SUNDAY JULY 5
ARTIST RECEPTION SATURDAY 6.27.09, 7PM-9:30PM
GALLERY HOURS
FRIDAY 4PM-8PM,
SATURDAY-SUNDAY NOON-5PM
FOURTH WALL PROJECT
132 BROOKLINE AVE., BOSTON
FOURTHWALLPROJECT.COM
YOULOVENICKZ.COM
