NICK HUNT
Nick Hunt, grew up in in Newport Beach in the 80’s and early 90’s. As Hunt states, “It was an unknown area to a lot of the world. Development was in progress, but at that point in time it was still mostly open land, populated with surfers and desert-beach dreamers. My work is inspired by this desert-ocean dangerous allure.”
Hunt’s work, while abstract, conjures a sense of history - both in their Light and Space influences and in the the rough beauty of the objects themselves. The scumbled, dented, sometimes bullet riddled surfaces reveal layers of color, painted on metal, and hint at a romantic complexity beneath the glossy enameled surfaces.
Hunt spent a lot of time in Mexico as a boy, where he got to know Billy Al Bengston, Peter Alexander, Chuck Arnoldi, and Laddie John Dill, who would come down to visit his father’s house on the Sea of Cortez. “I think our unspoken love for this place was what originally bonded us. The open spaces, the danger, the adventure, the feelings of being lost while finding yourself and being perfectly at ease with the nothingness that surrounds you. The undeniable beauty in a place with such minimal resources was captivating.”
That same feeling of exploration and adventure is what drew Hunt to California Art at a very early age. “The at times dangerous exploration of materials and search for the unknown possibilities of beauty - like Chuck with the chainsaw, Billy with his Dentos, Peter with resin and Laddie with sand and light.”
“Since I was a kid, the idea of being an artist, because of the artists I knew and admired, was not always the most glamorous. You made art because it was all you wanted and could do. So being an artist in California came with a sense of prideful hopelessness. It’s obviously changed now, but that sense of undeniable purpose in an area that seemed lost to the rest of the world inspired me as something wonderful, meaningful, and for me.”
EXHIBITIONS
Greg Miller & Nick Hunt: The Lost Coast
MEDIA
INCONVERSATION: Nick Hunt
