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Sixty-four paintings and short stories comprise this distinctive combination of original art and fiction that offers a glimpse into the artist’s interpretation of his own work. Featuring watercolors and pastels, the artwork frequently incorporates text into the paintings, layering a collage of elements that provide depth to the surrealist designs. Using movie and song titles, well-known phrases, and celebrity names, words and art merge into a modern picture saturated with social context. This visual presentation is enhanced by the accompanying stories that provide a concise, often whimsical, tale to associate the artwork with real-life encounters and situations. The provocative narrative creates a voyeuristic experience for the reader that leaves little to the imagination.
The artist reveals in the introduction that the art preceded the stories that complement the paintings, but the writing coincides effortlessly to convey a sense of solitary formation. Broaching controversial and sensitive subjects in his material, the author develops a unique cast of characters searching for fulfillment in different phases of life. Aging, mortality, family dynamics, passion, sex, and drug use are a selection of the subjects addressed throughout the compilation. The art depicts the message through simplistic scenes of objects unexpectedly united. Each watercolor and story arrangement portrays a platform for self-awareness and an outlet to explore human nature. While the writing often focuses on emotional topics, the reader can easily detect an underlying sense of humor in the author’s language and story-telling methods. Melding the skills of artist and writer, Nieman playfully offers the opportunity to discover an emotional connection with art in dual forms.
RECOMMENDED by the US Review