Interview with Buddy Nestor

q)Who are you? Where are you from and where do you live now?

a) I am a painter named Buddy Nestor. I was born in Camden, NJ and grew up in Collingswood, NJ.

q) What is it that you do? What media do you use?

a)I paint loose portraits in acrylic, spray paint, charcoal and graphite on canvases.

q) What do you think sets your work apart?

a)Uhm. I work from photographs in tinted tones of gray, I try to leave hints of the photo in the portraits, but it is probably the glowing red blobs that set me apart, if anything.

q) How long have you been showing your work for? Did you have a “big break?”

a)I’ve been showing since about 1997 in California and on the East coast near Philadelphia. The biggest break I’ve had was a solo show at the “Toothless Cat” Gallery in Philadelphia, PA. J.L Schnabel decided to put me in there and introduced me to a lot of the local artists in town. That opened the door for me and I’ve been showing consistently since then.

q) What are some things that have inspired you?

a)Multiple wars, watching my wife give birth to my son, skateboarding, ghosts, cell phones, meat eating, veganism, Republicans, soccer, hippies, dreams, disease, vacations, baseball, self identity, sadness, love, morality, gluttony.............the gray area.

q) What have you been working on recently?

a)The last painting I fiinshed was a clown portrait of my son for Distinction Gallery in CA. I’ll be doing some food portraits soon for a show at Copro Nason in October. I have one large painting and three drawings that I haven’t done yet for the “Sublties in Character” show at WWA gallery in December. I’m constantly working on paintings for the Bloom Art Fair that is coming up at the end of October in Koln, Germany. Once all of that is done I’ll be concentrating on full sized human portraits for a while.

q) Do you listen to music while you create your work? If so, would you give some examples?

a)Slayer, Butthole Surfers, Melvins, A Storm of Light, Unsane, Pavement, Acacia Strain, Elliott Smith, Pinback, Blood Fountains, Pig Destroyer, Mastodon, Baroness, High on Fire, Jesus Lizard, Heavy Vegetable, Black Cobra, Decap Attak, Beyond Dishonor, Neurosis, Mono, Pantera....among many others. Music is the fuel.

q) Do you do work in any other media? Other projects not necessarily related to your main body of work?

a)NO.

q) What advice do you have for artists looking to show their work?

a)Make art everyday. Make it when you are tired and sick. The”Genius” thing is bullshit. Art is a craft that takes time and dedication to perfect (or become semi-pro).

q) Do you have any upcoming exhibitions of your work that you can mention?

a)Yep, see question 6.

q) Where can people see more of your work on the internet?

a)buddynestorartwork.com (which I don’t update much, because I’m lazy) or on facebook-Buddy Nestor.