Stewart Nachmias: PULP ICONS at Brick City Gallery

Stewart Nachmias was born in Queens, in New York City, and grew up in Franklin Square, Long Island. As a child he began developing his interest in art along with ventriloquism. Introduced to etching in high school, Nachmias went on to major in printmaking at the State University of New York at New Paltz. After studying at New York University, he worked in Bob Blackburn's Printmaking Workshop, and later helped establish Studio 827, a printmaking atelier located on Union Square in New York.

In the 1990s he began the cast paper wood cuts that he continues to create. Deeply carved wood blocks are both inked directly and act as molds for hand-dyed paper pulp which Nachmias applies to the surface. The result is a print in low relief, with rich color embedded in its dimensional surface.

Nachmias's work encompass images of exuberant musicians, puppet shows, and working men, all recalling aspects of the artist's own life playing in bands, performing for children and on the job in printmaking studios. Themes include the urban environment full of danger and excitement,  the nostalgic charms of Coney Island, and mandalas devoted to music, puppets, love, and the creative brain that give a sense of sacred completeness to the artist's antic vision.

Nachmias has shown his work in many exhibitions, including recent solo shows at the Hardin Center for Cultural Arts (AL), Albany Museum of Art (GA), the Coral Springs Museum of Art (FL), the Wichita Falls Museum of Art (TX,) the Alexandria Museum of Art (LA), Texas A&M University, SUNY Oswego (NY), the Longview Museum of Fine Arts (TX), the Banana Factory (PA), and Long Island University Brooklyn (NY).

Free