Past Exhibitions
Kenton Nelson was born and raised in Los Angeles. For 50 years he had his studio in Pasadena, but now works and resides in San Clemente. Primarily self-taught, painting with oil on canvas or panel, Nelson creates his “perfect world”, full of implied stories and glorious California light.
Kenton Nelson has an exclusive poster created exclusively for Casa Romantica available for purchase in our onsite Gift Shop!
This exhibition is underwritten by Dr. Standiford and Noel Helm.
Kenton Nelson was born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. He attended Long Beach State University and Otis Parsons Art Institute, and for the last 40 years has had his art studio in Pasadena, CA. He has been on the faculty of the Otis Parsons Art Institute in Los Angeles and the Academy of Art in San Francisco.
Nelson traces his interest in painting back to his great uncle, Roberto Montenegro, renowned Mexican muralist and Modernist. The style of Nelson’s paintings have their origins in American Scene painting, Regionalism, and the work of the WPA artists of the 1930′s.
Nelson paints figures, landscape, and architecture bathed in light. The objective in his paintings is to idealize the ordinary with the intention of engagement, using the iconic symbols and styles of his lifetime in a theatrical style to make leading suggestions.
Nelson’s paintings have been featured seven times on the cover of The New Yorker magazine. Exhibitions of Nelson’s work have been enjoyed from Los Angeles to London, Vienna, and Zurich. His oil paintings of figures, objects, and architecture have, as one critic said, “single handedly resurrected the sun drenched optimism of New Deal American Painting.”
