Journal
Practice & process notes
Occasional writing on my art practice, techniques, process, and the ideas behind the work.
11 articles on NYC
January 22, 2017
Blood Rituals in Skin Deep (UK)
I’ve had the good fortune of my recent exhibition of new paintings being featured in the latest issue of Britain’s most popular tattoo art magazine, on sale now. Many thanks to Skin Deep and Barbara Pavone for the interview opportunity. Hanging in the other half of Sacred Gallery alongside my paintings this past November and December were recent works by friend and fellow tattooer/painter Jon Clue–a series called Ritual Magic. Our interviews and artwork were combined into one great feature article that you can read and see in its entirety below. Click on each image to view it at full size. P.S. See my last several blog posts for more press and content related to the Blood Rituals series… P.P.S. Which is still in progress despite the exhibit in NYC being over! One new piece was added to the site here, with a few more expected to be completed in the coming months. Please contact me for pricing and purchase inquiries.
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December 26, 2016
Blood Rituals Review, Part 2
After completing the review of my recent gallery show that I mentioned in my last blog post, staff writer at tattoodo.com Ross Howerton sent me some more in depth questions to learn more about the origins of the series. This interview made it into another stellar review of the exhibit on tattoodo.com, which you can read at the following link: “These insanely realistic still lifes at Sacred Tattoo tap into mankind’s deepest veins.” Source: Nick Baxter Draws Inspiration from His Own Blood | Tattoodo Banquet Of Suffering, oil on panel, 18 x 24 inches, 2016 For even more in-depth commentary that didn’t make it into the article, here is the complete interview: RH: How does working in different mediums, like tattooing and painting, affect you artistically? NB: Each medium feeds off of and informs the other, in a cycle of experimentation and learning that results in a more well-rounded skillset. RH: What is your favorite medium to work in? NB: For pure, unfiltered expression with deep symbolism I prefer painting, but for more illustrative or graphic work, and especially for the collaborative creative process between client and artist, tattoos are a perfect outlet for other aspects of my creativity. RH: As far as painting goes, you seem to have a preference for working in realism; why is that? NB: I love form—the way light illuminates the world we perceive—and I love seeing the illusion of a reality that’s so convincing it can transport your mind into the world of the painting. There’s a subtler aspect of realism that I also enjoy, which occurs with the most convincing pictorial illusions: that brief moment of disorienting wonder, a tiny temporary crack in the veneer of mundane certainty when the viewer who thought they were looking at a photograph realizes that’s not at all what it is. I’ve heard that moment described as the point where “emotional certainties waver, and taste loses its bearings.” I like trying to access that vulnerable place with what I do, I think an artwork can be impactful there. RH: How and why did you first become inspired to use your own blood as a reference point for your oil paintings in Blood Rituals MMXVI? NB: For as long as I can remember I’ve been fascinated by the human body, the medical sciences, and all that’s hidden within us that makes us what we are. Blood in particular is such a powerful and universal symbol of life, and ironically, of death as well. I wrote in my artist statement for the exhibit at Sacred Gallery in New York City that blood “is the liquid life force that feeds our physical vessel, the container of our soul. Its hidden presence sustains us; the breach beyond its borders horrifies us. It plays an ever-present and meaningful role in the human lexicon, as a symbol of love and sacrifice, of familial bond and battle alike, its deep scarlet hue representative of passion and our most powerful, primal urges.” I’ve had my share of exposure to it through routine bloodletting procedures I must undergo for a condition of iron overloading in my blood called Hemochromatosis. Over the years I’ve compiled quite a nice collection of reference material from these sessions, which of course set the creative gears in motion over what to make with it, and eventually the idea of the Blood Rituals series was sparked. Luckily I had the help of my dear phlebotomist friend through this process, and her arm appears in the exhibit’s large centerpiece painting as the only bit of a human figure depicted in the entire series. But one of my primary goals, or hopes, with this series is to use blood imagery and symbolism in a way that doesn’t evoke the shock value of gore or the campiness of the horror genre, and I’m not trying to comment on a specific medical condition or treatment. So I wanted to surround it with unlikely juxtapositions and temper its visual power with an understated classical sensibility. My use of blood-related subject matter has several layers of symbolism, from personal struggle and loss to the brutality inherent in all human civilizations, ancient and modern. I hope these images cut through any immediate reactions of fright or repulsion to access the vulnerable state of emotional freshness or tenderness that lies at the core of all our psyches. The fact that it intersects with my personal life makes blood more powerful for me as subject matter, and I hope some of that translates to the viewer. RH: What was it like doing such an intensive artistic study on your own blood? NB: I had a lot of fun with it. Blood is just fun to paint, because it’s a living liquid that does so many things. Of course it’s visceral and shiny and incredibly vibrant in color, but it also separates, clots, coagulates, dries and cracks, forms bubbles, changes color. It presents so many great artistic possibilities, to say nothing of its powerful symbolic potential. RH: Why did you choose to paint only still lifes for Blood Rituals MMXVI? NB: Still life is my original genre, the one I learned foremost in art school and have the most comfort and familiarity with. I love the other classical genres too though, so I included a small nod to landscapes and figurative work in the series’ large centerpiece mentioned above, called Pull Me Through Time. RH: Do you consider the paintings in Blood Rituals MMXVI as still lifes or self-portraits? NB: Primarily they’re still lifes, as most of the symbolism is impersonal enough to have universal meaning, and many of the arrangements are mysterious enough to invite multiple narratives or interpretations. However, they are all quite intimate to me, carrying personal narratives inspired by certain events and struggles in my life, featuring various objects I’ve collected over the years. And needless to say, the blood I used for reference is me, in a very literal and existential way. One of the paintings is actually intended to be a much more direct reference to the self-portrait, and it’s titled as such. The viewer is invited to interpret the objects as parts of me and the arrangement as representative of my existence. RH: How would you recommend that viewers try to interpret the profound oil paintings in Blood Rituals MMXVI? NB: I love when people viewing my work engage with it deeply enough, and are informed enough generally about visual art, to formulate their own ideas about it. Hearing these is always fascinating to me; they’re like a mirror, reflecting back to me the effects of my visual communication, the aspects of it or elements within it that spoke something to someone. As an artist and a maker of visual communication, I can always learn valuable insights from these. On the other hand, I created this series with a very specific artistic vision and a premeditated intention, and with that comes the desire for people to engage with the images from a certain mindset. There are layers of symbolism and art-historical references that some viewers probably wouldn’t know how to decode without some prompting, so I included the artist statement quoted above with the exhibition, for those curious to know where I’m coming from. Aside from the statement, when a viewer sees the gallery show, I’d feel like the works achieved their aim if that viewer felt a quiet somber darkness, and the existential sadness of loss, which is something all the paintings depict in one form or another. The blood is lost from the body, the weathered shelves and rusted metal have lost their former shine, the skulls and various bones, the wilted flowers, the tattered books—all have lost. But all still remain. I imagine viewers perhaps also piecing together a loose semblance of a story being told by the remnants of some mysterious recent event—the artifacts left behind in the form of a still life arrangement. But I don’t need them necessarily to feel what I feel, or anything in particular, I just hope that they feel something. RH: Just to give us a sense of the symbolism behind your still lifes, what meaning do you intend a piece like “Banquet of Suffering” to convey? NB: Speaking of stories, I wrote a short parable about that particular piece, as an accompaniment to a future publishing of the series in book form: “In a world much like ours, there was a race of conquerors who spread death far and wide to finance their empire. They drained all the land of its lifeblood to hoard it for themselves and hunted those who dared oppose, a once vibrant population now reduced to a grizzled band of vagabonds and scavengers. One autumn eve, as frost turned the last of the green to black and night descended, this race of false heirophants and infant gods and gluttons gathered for a feast to celebrate their conquest. Drunk with power, intoxicated by greed, they gorged themselves deep into the night. Grown soft in their decadence, gloating in their spoils, they grew accustomed to the dark–indeed, foolishly thought their revelry would never end. But eventually the morning did come, as it always does. In the cool dawn, scavengers found the remnants of depraved merriment: a candle still burning, blood still fresh in silver bowls, chunks of bread and flesh as if frozen in mid-bite. They ate from the scraps and sipped cautiously, weary and watching for their vanished oppressors. As the rising sun revealed the murky depths of the banquet hall, they saw the bloated corpses, and realized with sudden relief that they were safe: the conquerors had gorged themselves to death.” RH: Do you have a favorite painting from Blood Rituals MMXVI and why? NB: I don’t have a favorite. I think some are more successful on an artistic level than others, in terms of vision and execution, but this is just a technical self-critique. Each piece carries its own particular meaning for me, and the process of developing each into its final form contains a series of memories, problem solving, and minor struggles, so they are all important and meaningful to me in unique ways. RH: What draws you to painting landscapes? NB: I’ve always been a nature lover, plain and simple, with an explorer’s urge instilled in me by my father, to adventure in the lesser-traveled and wild places of this planet. I’ve been determined lately to combine this with my artistic passion, so painting landscapes is a natural fusion of two important parts of myself. I especially enjoy the raw directness of plein air painting, which is an old term meaning on location, out in the elements. It’s a great counterpart to my controlled finesse process of studio painting. RH: As a painter and tattooist, who and what are some of your greatest influences? NB: Classical realism painters from antiquity and modern times, photorealism and its various offshoots beginning in the 60’s and 70’s, and too many other genres, periods, muses, artists, and amazing tattooers to name. I’m lucky to call some of them friends and colleagues. RH: Do you have any other art projects currently in progress and, if so, what? NB: For now, I’m just continuing to paint a few more related still life ideas that couldn’t make the gallery show deadline, as well as attempting some more complex and larger scale landscapes. Additionally, I ended up culling a few pieces from the Blood Rituals series in order to keep the desired aesthetic and narrative intact, as a few of them veered into pure photorealism and lost touch with classical still life. In the future those outcasts will form their own offshoot series, since I love photorealism just as much as I love classical realism, and they turned out just as good as the ones that made it into the series.
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December 16, 2016
Blood Rituals Review
“Beautiful paintings of blood and bones at a gorgeous gallery in NYC.” There’s a fantastic review of the recent gallery exhibit BLOOD RITUALS MMXVI that was just posted today on www.tattoodo.com. Many thanks to Ross at Tattoodo! Read it here: Ritual Magic and Blood Rituals MMXVI at Sacred Tattoo | Tattoodo The entire series can now be viewed here on this site, just click on the link in the lefthand site navigation column.
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October 25, 2016
BLOOD RITUALS MMXVI: Progress Montage
Here’s another video featuring work from my forthcoming series of new paintings “Blood Rituals,” debuting at Sacred Gallery in NYC November 12th. Shown in this video are the paintings “Quantum Of Sustenance” (oil on linen, 12 x 16 inches), “Banquet Of Suffering” (oil on linen, 18 x 24 inches), and “Pull Me Through Time” (oil on linen, 26 x 40 inches), along with various progress shots of my layering and glazing processes.
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October 17, 2016
BLOOD RITUALS MMXVI: To The Nadir
Here’s the second promotional video for my upcoming exhibition Blood Rituals at Sacred Gallery in NYC on November 12th, for the painting “To The Nadir.” See my previous blog post for the first video. The soundtrack to these videos are excerpts of two songs by Type O Negative.
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October 12, 2016
BLOOD RITUALS MMXVI: Quantum Of Sustenance
With my exhibition of new work approaching in a few weeks, I’m creating some promo materials for the series, including some teaser videos for various paintings. Enjoy this short piece featuring my painting “Quantum Of Sustenance”:
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July 6, 2016
Summer Exhibitions
This has turned into quite a busy summer for me, as I have various recent paintings scattered across the globe in several current group exhibitions. Even though it’s been a whirlwind of packing, shipping, emailing, posting, and filekeeping (custom-made art inventory Excel spreadsheet FTW!), I’m honored to have my work included in these shows. Check out the list below and see if any are near you! I have one recent still life included in the juried biennial of the Peto Museum in New Jersey ( see recent blog post for more info ). “To The Nadir”, oil on linen panel, 11 x 14 inches, 2016 I’m showing 4 recent paintings in Austin, Texas gallery Art For The People ‘s “Off The Wall, Off The Flesh” exhibit. I have 4 recent still lifes in Rome, Italy at the MACRO museum’s “Tattoo Forever” exhibit, featuring the fine artworks of noteworthy tattooers from around the world. “July”, oil on linen panel, 12 x 9 inches, 2015 I have a recent painting from my Apostasy series exhibiting in “Flesh to Canvas” hosted by Last Rites Gallery at the Empire State Tattoo Expo, a yearly group show featuring non-tattoo fine artworks by many of the top tattooers in the world. “The Offering,” oil on linen panel, 11 x 14 inches, 2015. After it returns from AFTP’s current exhibit, my recent still life is slated for inclusion in the 11th Annual International Juried Exhibition of the International Guild Of Realism, which will happen at Gallery 1261 in Denver Colorado in late August. “Dying In America,” oil on linen panel, 5 x 14 inches, 2015
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July 6, 2015
“Flesh To Canvas” Group Show
I’ll have my recent painting Singularity for sale in Last Rites Gallery’s annual Flesh To Canvas group show next weekend at the Empire State Tattoo Expo in NYC, July 10-12. Please contact the gallery for inquiries on this piece or my other recent work currently in their inventory, Sacrament (Vanitas). Singularity, oil on canvas, 18 x 20 inches, 2014-15 Sacrament (Vanitas), oil on panel, 16 x 20 inches, 2014
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September 18, 2012
Wildlife In the Post-Natural Age 2
This past Friday, September 14th was the opening reception of my friend Cara ‘s curatorial debut at the WIlliamsburg Art & Historical Center in Brooklyn, NY, in which I had 2 hand-retouched photographs featured. Tonight I found a rather heartwarming email in my inbox regarding the exhibit, and thought to share it here. I’m honored to be a part of this, and I’m proud of my friend’s accomplishment: Dear Cara, the participating artists, interns, volunteers and staff members and all. I and the WAH staff members want to thank you for bringing a great show to the WAH Center. It is a big duty for a curator to put up a show as big and as excellent as this one. Cara is not only a fine artist but also a great curator/organizer who could see with her keen aesthetic judgement and logistical abilities how to bring the show to fruition. The opening was a full house with many new and young visitors all celebrating with good cheer. We would like to share with you this video of the opening reception on Youtube. Since the show still goes on for another two weeks, please tell your friends and people whom you know to come and enjoy it, as it is a worthy show that one cannot miss. Many many thanks again, Much Love, Yuko Nii, Founder & Artistic Director WAH Center (Williamsburg Art & Historical Center) “WAH means peace, harmony, or unity in Japanese” Unfortunately I was not able to attend the opening reception, nor will I be able to view the exhibit in person before it comes down, but here is the video mentioned in the email above.
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September 5, 2012
Wildlife In the Post-Natural Age
I have two recent photographs included in a group show this month at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center in Brooklyn, NYC, called Wildlife in the Post-Natural Age. This thoughtful and gorgeous collection of work, featuring several renowned contemporary artists (who I’m humbled to be showing alongside), was curated by my talented friend Cara DeAngelis. If you’re in the Northeast and have any interest in wildlife, ecology, or environmentalism, this show is worth checking out. Cara’s eloquent press release describes the concept that inspired the exhibit: “The show focuses on work that addresses the interplay between wildlife and our domesticated selves and spaces. It probes the persistence of wildlife in American culture and individual imagination through the work of a diverse group of city-based artists. The varied works evoke a reconsideration of the term ‘wild’ in what Gary Snyder has called a Post-Natural Age, and the role that artists are playing in exploring these issues.” The photos I submitted for the exhibition are from an ongoing series of macro studio photography I’ve been working on for approximately 2 years now. These digital images are a scientific document of the myriad lifeforms I discover or interact with in my travels and adventures on Planet Earth. This project was partly inspired by the Terry Gilliam version of 12 Monkeys, a surreal post-apocolyptic harbinger, which took hold of my teenage brain and hasn’t ever truly let go. The photos below reveal some of the process of preparing my prints for display, followed by the original digital versions of the images featured in the show. Stay tuned for more images from the series, which has a working title of Specimens. At Jeff’s house proofing the images. Taking an image from digital to print for the first time is tricky–this was an all-day affair. A print emerging from Jeff’s monster EPSON 5million (ok, thats not a real model number. But it’s huge). The reds in this image proved incredibly difficult to dial in. Back at the studio with all my proofs. Hand-painting, signing, and numbering each one to make a little series of prints I can sell. No sense in throwing away all these proofs that were nearly indistinguishable from the final full-sized print. Hand painting some effects on the full-sized prints that will be mounted and sent to the exhibition. Mounted up and varnished, drying. Detail of some of my paint/re-touching effects. “Frailty (Grackle, Austin, Texas)”, photo/digital, 2011 “Gluttony (Engorged Wood Tick, Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation, North Dakota)”, photo/digital, 2010
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October 22, 2011
Begin Transmission
Welcome to my new fine arts website and blog. Thanks for looking. I hope to feature content related to my painting and creative process, as well as updates on shows, exhibitions, original works for sale or giclee limited editions. Check back for behind-the-scenes updates on my current series of paintings, in progress, for an exhibition debuting May 26th, 2012 at Last Rites Gallery in NYC.
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