Referral Friday is part of an ongoing series inspired by John Jantsch's Make-a-Referral Week. For more about that, and loads more referrals for everything from cobblers to coaches to gee-tar teachers, start here. Pass it on, baby!
A few months ago, on our way between picking up some Saturday morning coffee and steeling ourselves for the walk back up a big-ass hill, The BF and I dropped in on a local open-air art market. There were the usual crafty type things, jewelry and candles and whatnot, and there was one artist's stuff that stopped me dead in my tracks.
Brad Nack ain't your garden-variety artiste. He's a man with a past that includes such disparate items as sailing around the world with a crazy person and managing a pretty famous band, which activity I think technically makes you the crazy person.
After the gallivanting, he came back to what he was really good at: painting and being awesome. Seriously, what do you call a guy who sets a goal for himself of painting over 2000 paintings in one year...for TWO YEARS IN A ROW...just because? I call it awesome, and I know what's what, bub.
Perhaps it was in his blood: his father, Ken Nack, was an artist, too, studying with Fernand Léger in Paris in the 1940s. (Here's a nice snapshot I found of the two of them, Brad and his dad, not Brad's dad and Fernand Léger.)
Let's put aside the gimmick, if you want to call it that, of painting over 2000 reindeer in time for the holidays. (In case you're interested, I don't call it a gimmick: I call it a really cool project, and some smart marketing, to boot.) I like Brad Nack's paintings because they're technically great, they vibrate with life and humor (thank CHRIST) and because they remind me of a crazy cross between Paul Klee and a particular style of mid-century illustration I always dug. And, hell, it doesn't hurt that Brad Nack is such a cool guy. Well, seems to be, from the very small amount of interaction we've had. But you can tell, you know? You just can.
You can follow along with Brad's reindeer painting adventures on his blog, and contact him about claiming one. I suspect one of those suckers is going to end up chez communicatrix, and I love the idea of a whole bunch of us being connected by a whole bunch of paintings by one way cool dude.
xxx
c
- Brad Nack's website
- Brad Nack's Reindeer Project blog
Photos: (top) 2009 Reindeer Project paintings in progress; (bottom) four of 2008's Reindeer Project.