2022
While it’s neither completely outsider art nor folk art, the work of John Randall Nelson shares common ground with those styles, particularly in its rawness and nonconformity. He uses symbols and archetypes in his paintings and sculptures, having developed a distinct artistic vocabulary over the years that materializes in his work in text and graphic elements.
Nelson was born in Princeton, Illinois, but works out of Phoenix, Arizona. Early visits to the Art Institute of Chicago introduced Nelson to painters such as Jim Nutt, Roger Brown and Karl Wirsum. He decided to move to Arizona to study at Arizona State University where he earned his MFA in 1996.
Nelson’s subjects are as playful as they are peculiar — his textured paintings, which feature collages, layers of oil paint and an integration of text, feature everything from animals and flowers to imagined human-animal hybrids or everyday objects such as shoes and bicycles. Many paintings are populated with brightly colored polka dot patterns while his Pop art-inflected steel sculptures take on fantastical forms and draw on the Pattern and Decoration movement, which emerged in cities such as Los Angeles and New York during the early 1970s.
Nelson has exhibited all over the United States. His sculptures can be found at the Scottsdale Center for the Arts, the Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix and the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Nelson’s work is held in a number of private, public and corporate collections including Apple Inc., Phoenix Public Art and Design, the American Folk Art Museum and many other institutions.
On 1stDibs, find a collection of original John Randall Nelson paintings and other art.
Knows How to Dance
By John Randall Nelson
Located in Los Angeles, CA
John Randall Nelson’s paintings are layered with his own personal language consisting of patterns, symbols, and archetypes that may not make any literal sense but play on subconsciou...
Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Panel
To Temper Bitterness
By John Randall Nelson
Located in Los Angeles, CA
John Randall Nelson’s paintings are layered with his own personal language consisting of patterns, symbols, and archetypes that may not make any literal sense but play on subconscious associations. His paintings are thick with paint, poured pigment and saturated washes with layers of drawing and collage. While Nelson's work is akin to outsider, folk art, it should be noted that he received his MFA from Arizona State University in 1995 and has completed commissions for clients as diverse as the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States Postal Service...
Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Panel
Relatively Exotic
By John Randall Nelson
Located in Los Angeles, CA
John Randall Nelson’s paintings are layered with his own personal language consisting of patterns, symbols, and archetypes that may not make any literal sense but play on subconsciou...
Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Panel
It's All My Fault
By John Randall Nelson
Located in Los Angeles, CA
John Randall Nelson’s paintings are layered with his own personal language consisting of patterns, symbols, and archetypes that may not make any literal sense but play on subconscious associations. His paintings are thick with paint, poured pigment and saturated washes with layers of drawing and collage. While Nelson's work is akin to outsider, folk art, it should be noted that he received his MFA from Arizona State University in 1995 and has completed commissions for clients as diverse as the National Endowment for the Arts, the United States Postal Service...
Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Panel
Adrift with the Faithful
By John Randall Nelson
Located in Los Angeles, CA
John Randall Nelson’s paintings are layered with his own personal language consisting of patterns, symbols, and archetypes that may not make any literal sense but play on subconsciou...
Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Panel
For All The Graces
By John Randall Nelson
Located in Los Angeles, CA
John Randall Nelson’s paintings are layered with his own personal language consisting of patterns, symbols, and archetypes that may not make any literal sense but play on subconsciou...
Mixed Media, Oil, Acrylic, Panel
Outside Choice, Pop Art Painting by Michael Knigin
By Michael Knigin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Michael Knigin, American (1942 - 2011) Title: Outside Choice Year: 1984 Medium: Acrylic and Enamel on Canvas, signed l.l. and verso Size: 34 x 96 in. (86.36 x 243.84 cm) Fram...
Enamel
American Contemporary Art by Maxwell Stevens - Melancholy Eve 3
Located in Paris, IDF
Oil on Hand-carved Mahogany
Mahogany, Oil
Subject (abstract expressionisting pop art painting)
By Wayne Timm
Located in Wilton Manors, FL
Wayne Timm (b.1937). Subject, 1966. Oil on canvas. 36 x 40 inches; 37 x 41 inches framed. Signed, titled and dated en verso. Minor surface cracking. Paint layer is stable with no fla...
Oil
Guilded Native, Pop Art Acrylic Painting by Michael Knigin
By Michael Knigin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Michael Knigin, American (1942 - 2011) Title: Guilded Native Year: 1988 Medium: Acrylic on Canvas, signed and dated in pencil Size: 84 x 45 inches
Enamel
Nothing Ventured, Pop Art Acrylic and Enamel Painting by Michael Knigin
By Michael Knigin
Located in Long Island City, NY
Artist: Michael Knigin, American (1942 - 2011) Title: Nothing Ventured Year: 1995 Medium: Acrylic & Enamel on Canvas, signed and titled verso Size: 26.5 x 48 inches Frame Size: 27 x ...
Enamel
"Because The Past Is Not The Past" Oil on Canvas 62 x42 Pop ART
By Matt Straub
Located in Southampton, NY
We are please to announce that we are now representing the Pop Art paintings of the artist Matt Straub. We at the gallery have been excited about the Pop W...
Canvas, Oil
