While the title of Nate Frizzell’s new solo show, “Dark Was The Night” is taken from the popular Blues tune of the 1920s, the new contemporary painter’s modern Californian influences are still apparent in the work that encompasses it. Beautifully rendered portraits of everyday folks in surreal yet emotional landscapes, Frizzell’s subjects live in today’s world amongst graffiti, coyotes, and wearing Vans sneakers. 

This myriad of urban landscapes vs natural settings, humans vs animals, and the new black backgrounds of this work vs his usual pop culture colors, offers stirring visual examinations of the current human condition. 

Are we that different from our four-legged friends? Frizzle examines this dynamic further by sometimes depicting people with animal heads or masks, perhaps suggesting that we hide behind primitive beliefs and feelings. His faces are hidden so we can see ourselves, so that the artist himself is obscured from our view. 

“I try to do something a little different with every show,” says Frizzell, about his new work. “It’s important to me to grow as an artist. I’m playing with the use of black and negative space...seeing how far I can push myself to mute my color palette and still put a little life into the paintings.”The opening reception for Nate Frizzell will be hosted Saturday, November 15, 2014, from 7-10pm at CHG Circa. The reception is open to the public, and the exhibition is on view through December 6, 2014. 

Nate Frizzell 

A southern California native and graduate of Los Angeles’ Otis College of Art and Design, Nate Frizzell is a dedicated painter. Creating bold and colorful scenarios of humans and animals at play and in turmoil, Frizzell depicts intimate stories that reflect his own feelings. Frizzell’s surrealistically rendered images that incorporate graphic design elements resonate within the New Contemporary scene. Frizzell lives and works in Los Angeles.

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