Meet Nathan Neven

We were lucky to catch up with Nathan Neven recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nathan, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?

When an artist is successful, how can you not be optimistic?

In the life of an artist, there are disappointments, wishes or dreams that don’t come true. I don’t think you should ask yourself too many questions, don’t think about it too much, take a step back and always try to improve your technique and your imagination. Tell yourself that there are other ways of getting there, and that this isn’t your path, and tell yourself that the future belongs to you.

In my experience, this attitude has always benefited me.

Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?

For over a decade I’ve been an artist. A full-time artist, I collaborate with American, European and Japanese art galleries.

Collaborating with galleries from different continents means meeting collectors from different cultures, which over the years has enriched my inspiration and the themes of my paintings.

An artist also finds inspiration in everyday life.
My favorite themes are cities like New York. Paris and Venice, often with classical settings. During the confinement of Covid 19, I was struck by the empty streets of cities around the world, and imagined these streets inhabited by wild animals.
Giraffes, elephants and lions in the streets of New York and Paris.
Recently I had the pleasure of creating a series of animals in the desert for the Coda gallery in Palm Desert, California.
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Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

The 1st quality is the quantity of work, a daily task that always allows us to improve and tackle different subjects.
The 2nd quality is to maintain the enthusiasm you need throughout your life as an artist.
each day of creation is an opportunity to create and learn.
the 3d is to believe in your chance as an artist to find your audience and collectors, however long it takes to succeed.

We’ve all got limited resources, time, energy, focus etc – so if you had to choose between going all in on your strengths or working on areas where you aren’t as strong, what would you choose?

I began to be fascinated by architecture, both exterior buildings and interior architecture and design, so much so that I imagined studying to become an interior decorator.

Drawing was my strong point, I’d always been interested in architectural perspective, and it was easy for me to produce beautiful drawings.

I hadn’t tried color work and painting, no doubt for fear of the difficulty.

As I worked, I discovered with passion and delight that I could go very far in what was becoming my work as an artist.
I’d say that you have to keep your strong points, of course, but in creative work, you have to approach the unknown with humility, which is difficult at the outset, sometimes off-putting, but which can be so rich in lessons and future successes.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://nathanneven.com
• Instagram: nathannevenartiste

Image Credits

copyright©NATHAN NEVEN