The end of summer is rapidly approaching and we've got our last collection of the season prepped to come out on August 25, 2023.
Nate Cardozo is one of the most enthralling artists in Tacoma right now. As the progenitor of what he calls the "parched paint style", he deftly uses flame to create a performance based around catharsis, then after the pyroclasm has finished he leaves viewers to make their own association and create their own context. In the end his works are left with unique textures which subvert and elevate expectations of impasto style abstract painting.
"Context" is the million dollar word when it comes to Cardozo's work. Rather than giving his pieces names which might lead the viewer towards a predetermined narrative, Cardozo instead titles them like journal entries with dates. In our recent interview he put it best.
Context is subjective, person to person. I don't seek to subvert it, I ask people to bring their own. What a piece means to me, or how it made me feel, is seldom the same as the viewer. This is why I prefer to think of my work as journal entries. Emotions and hard feelings gain tangible form through paint, then are burned in effigy and released in one glorious moment.
You can find Nate Cardozo's work at the Proctor Art Gallery and at Heritage Coffee and Plant Bar. He can be contacted through his instagram page @c_studio.northwest and you can view his works in a digital gallery published by @arte_contemporaryart.