"My work explores the unsolved questions regarding racial inequity, class, and religion....
​​When painting, I am exported to a place filled with fear, unrest, discrimination, and pain. But I always leave a space for beauty and light at the end of the tunnel. My paintings are inspired by the souls of the past who refuse to be forgotten."

Disquiet

Nard Lee

Nard Lee attended Howard University. His academic interests were put on hold when he started his first business at 20 years old. He sold his business and worked as an actor and model for 13 years. His film credits include 'Silence of the Lambs' and 'He Said, She Said'. A passionate creative from an early age, the self taught artist could no longer ignore the voice that's driven him to visually opine his view on today's unrest through paint on canvas.
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Nonviolent

Faceless American

Please share some insight into your background.
Born and raised in Washington DC, now based in Miami. My work explores the unsolved questions regarding racial inequity, class, and religion. My dominant lens is that of the often overlooked and underestimated kid keenly aware of how the outside world views him. I am often driven by historical context and view things by how they should have been rather how they may have been celebrated by history. My perspectives are that of a child who grew up in the 70's and 80's, that are just as relevant then as today. When painting, I am exported to a place filled with fear, unrest, discrimination, and pain. But I always leave a space for beauty and light at the end of the tunnel. My paintings are inspired by the souls of the past who refuse to be forgotten.

Share with us some insight into your process.
Before placing paint on campus, I take a deep breath, close my eyes, and try to put myself in the place of my subject. I want to experience how they may have felt before I saw them in my mind’s eye. My challenge is not to see them as they are but to attempt to capture who they were before. I am searching for a subtle beauty in my artwork, purposely hidden within the chaos of the piece. My goal is to have the observer see beyond the image and to experience a disruption to their senses while absorbing the pain, fear and joy experienced by my subjects.

This Is Not America

"It (my art) is always about an unsuspected contrast.
Opposing views. Friends and foes. Protagonists and antagonists.  
​I am seeking an unsuspected element that begs a question that I usually do not have an answer to."
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I'm Afraid of Americans

Mark

How would you describe the unique DNA of your art?
I think in a word dichotomy. Its always about an unsuspected contrast. Opposing views. Friends and foes. Protagonists and antagonists. I am seeking an unsuspected element that begs a question that I usually do not have an answer to.

How do you want to impact the viewers?
I think the easy answer to the question begins with drawing an emotion. I begin with questions. What? When? Why? How and Who? Then add a revisionist historian context to be considered.

​What do people say when they discover your work?
What I remember most is, “Always makes me think.” “Thoughtful mind of the artist is clearly visible.” There is always a direction and movement. Lots of action.” That is all I can ask as an artist.

ES 2

Kool Aid

​"I begin with questions. What? When? Why? How and Who?
Then add a revisionist historian context to be considered."

Reparation

Please tell us 3 of the artworks that have most impacted your career and why?
Everything with me begins with Basquiat and there could easily be 33 pieces. But “Portrait of Glenn” is a piece that I see in my sleep. His art of storytelling is what I am striving for without the text.  E Pluribus Unum. I am in total awe of Marcus Jansen’s work. The scale and storytelling, the landscapes. He places you in the middle of the chaos. His battlefields and experiences as a soldier. His work depicts beauty and chaos then blends in a familiar figure of Americana that forces us to ask how he/she/they got there. Salvador Dali’s, “The Persistence of Memory.” It may be considered conservative for Dali as its land-scape, but the presence of clocks and time transformed into something unexpected has stayed with me for years. It forced me to view art differently as a young man and ask questions before admiring its beauty.

Share with us some of the themes and concepts that you have explored.
I am always exploring and searching for combinations that include shapes and layers, landscapes, textures. I am looking for a perfect blend of beauty and chaos. I do not really have a label or concept that I am specifically exploring. I try to be free with movement and non-restrictive. 

​What are you currently working on?
I have begun to work on a series of paintings with a historical context titled, Same Orange Jump Suit. Orange Jump Suits are prevalent in American prisons and easy to identify. In some areas of the United States, they were even considered fashionable for a short period of time. I’m “orange washing” paintings to draw a contrast on racial protests and disruption in 1960’s America and present-day America.
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Messiah

"I am looking for a perfect blend of beauty and chaos.
I try to be free with movement and non-restrictive."
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Hashtagg

Undecided

What directions are you interested to explore next?
I have been doing a lot of research on our first 5 Presidents. How they lived, fought, and thought about what they were fighting for. I am looking for an element of their story that is seldom told.

​What attracts you to your preferred mediums?
I love the flexibility of acrylics, but oil pastels and chalk give a movement to a piece that I may end up having zero idea of the outcome. I like that I am often surprised by the combinations of depth, color, texture, and direction that pastels produce.

​What are your views on the role of art in the world?
Art is not just in museums and galleries and auction houses, its everywhere. I think art belongs to everyone and that part of our role on this planet is to be creators. I do not know what is should cost. I don’t know if it should be large scale or 8 x8.” I always know how it makes me feel and when we share that with each other, it impacts all of us. So as art tells the story of our existence on this planet, it connects us, it delivers truths and uncover lies. The more art we create and share, the more we learn about each other.

Beautiful Slur

Nard Lee

"The angst of how I may or may not tell a story creates the anxiety that keeps me awake at night."
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Enough

Democracry

What do you feel when you are creating?
My ideas for a piece are generally produced by an incident or event. Unrest. Politics. Injustice. I am thinking about the people involved, what they felt and how they would like me to tell the story. I would always like there to be a hero and a villain and the angst of how I may or may not tell a story creates the anxiety that keeps me awake at night.

​Tell us about your location and how it influences your art.
I was born in Washington DC and every Sunday after church, my Godfather would take me to the other side of the city. We would visit the National Gallery of Art, Air and Space Museum, The National Portrait Gallery and these visits gave me another view of the city that would have been small without these excursions. When I lived in NYC, I would spend hours in MoMa. While in Paris, I found myself not wanting to leave The Louvre of Versailles and was struck by the scale and detail of the pieces. I have lived in Miami for 25 years and the dynamic and energy of the city has always given me energy. My pieces are not necessarily driven by South Florida, but South Florida drives my energy to paint.

How has your art practice evolved over your career?
It is a process and I learn something every day. I am still early in my career so ask me that question 5 years from now and I will have a better answer.

How has the COVID-19 pandemic affected your creative expression?
2020 was not fun for too many reasons to count. But it allowed me to spend more time with a brush in my hand and that is a good thing.


www.nard-lee.com
www.instagram.com/nard.art