Dennis Nechvatal
Skin
Skin depicts a series of primitive masks evoking the past in the present. Nechvatal fuses an age-old icon with modern material: masks hand-cut and pounded out of recycled, commercial-size salsa cans that Nechvatal procured from a restaurant near his home. Nechvatal’s first masks came from cat food cans and progressed to scale.
From the primitive masks depicted on the walls of cavemen to the futuristic masks seen in Star Wars movies, Nechvatal views the mask as an important vehicle of expression. Skin shows a grid-like display of over 200 multicolored faces. One after another, the repetition creates the illusion of sound.
“All these masks are quietly buzzing like electricity humming through a big cable of wire,” Nechvatal said.
Skin forms a whole piece but still portrays the mass array of individual components. Layers of paint merge to create one homogenous skin tone. Multitudes of masks become pores.
“They are not all the same, although they pretend to be,” Nechvatal said. “It’s an abstraction.”
Nechvatal wants visitors to walk away having seen and experienced something different.
“They won’t admit it, but they will think about it later,” he said.
Skin is part of the original art from the Burke Collection donated to the Midwest Express Center in 1998.
Landscape Drama: Wisconsin
Landscape Drama: Wisconsin depicts a woodland landscape scene and traverses time and allures with lush, unsettling beauty. The stone ruins in the piece, suggestive of an extinct civilization, are illustrative of nature’s superiority over mankind.
Artist Dennis Nechvatal says, “We as a modern society now look at the landscape as somewhat of a primitive thing… because when you make a painting of a landscape it becomes more of a pictorial object.
The work is also interactive.
“You really can’t take in the whole painting from one position,” Nechvatal said. “As you move, the clouds move.”
Landscape Drama: Wisconsin is part of the original art from the Burke Collection donated to the Midwest Express Center in 1998.
About Dennis Nechvatal
Dennis Nechvatal was born in Dodgeville, Wisconsin, but now lives and works in Madison, Wisconsin. He is a versatile artist whose pursuit has been to explore and master new styles and techniques. He is known for his cut tin masks and mask paintings, as well as his boldly executed vivid landscapes.
Nechvatal considers himself a “late bloomer” when it comes to art. He studied chemistry and biology during his first year at Loras College in Dubuque, Iowa, but eventually pivoted to the study of art. He was set to graduate with BA and BS degrees from Stout State University in 1971 when a professor recognized his talent and wrote to a colleague praising his work. The letter led to a full scholarship to Indiana University’s graduate program in fine arts. In graduate school, he switched his concentration from printmaking to painting. Nechvatal calls himself an “investigative artist” because he uses a wide range of disciplines– painting, sculpture, ceramics and art metal– to deliver what’s inside him. He develops an idea and selects the materials that will best bring the idea to life.
Nechvatal’s work has been widely exhibited around the United States, including at the Chazen Museum of Art, Arkansas Art Center, The Art Institute of Chicago and the Milwaukee Art Museum. He earned an MFA from Indiana University in 1974 and spent time as a professor at East Texas State University.
