Craig Paul Nowak

Christina's World

Christina's World is essentially an experimental self-portrait. It was designed using intuitive decision making, and when not censored, I believe that the results of an intuited painting can convey a truer representation of an artists inner-self than they might ever hope to depict by painting a traditional self-portrait.

Our jobs as artists, is to depict ideas. More often than not, those ideas are edited for consumption. We want to express an idea or convey a narrative, and anything that might get in the way of expressing or conveying exactly that narrative, almost always gets removed. My goal with this painting was to get out of my own way. I made decisions without thinking about them. I chose the content and arranged the composition using intuition alone.

This paintinng was exhibited twice before it was eventually dismantled and altered. It featured 92 individual canvases and not all of them survived the dismantling. Before being dismantled, it was exhibited at Red Bull House of Art in 2012 and Artprize in 2014.

Christina's World was completed during a 3-month residency with Red Bull House of Art in Detroit, MI.

Mosaic Commission

This 19ft x 4ft porcelain and glass mosaic was commissioned by one of my earliest collectors, whom I adore. Each tile was cut by hand and assembled during my time at PF Galleries in Clawson, MI. I built this mosaic on nine separate panels so it could be transported easily from Metro Detroit to Miami, FL.

The collector needed a 2D work of art for a site-specific location. They asked for something that would endure the harsh and inhospitable weather of a hot and muggy Miami rooftop. The materials that were used were chosen for exactly that purpose, to be archival and attractive within the given environment.

They requested that the design feature elephants and other elements inspired by India. Out of numerous designs that I would have loved to produced, they chose this one, and it was a great choice. The chosen design featured a male and female figure with elephant visage standing in a colorful patterned gallery with works art adorning the walls. The works of art featured images of rural Indian farmland, a sunset over a bed of lotus flowers, and an Indian cityscape.

The wall pattern was derived from one of many patterns found on ancient Indian architecture and featured a color scheme matching that of Miami's bright and vibrant style.

PF Galleries assisted with production of the mosaic.

Dream World

Dream World was a collaborative painting project where I (Craig Paul Nowak) worked with a group of students from Henry Ford Academy in Detroit, MI, to create an overall image that represented the group's collective social subconscious.

The students all chose characters that represented how they saw themselves. They then chose symbolic landscapes that represented their inner worlds. I combined their landscape images to create a hypothetical collective "Dream World" and subsequently, I painted that world on an immersive 9ftx20ft canvas for the student's characters to inhabit. After the students each painted their own characters on canvas, those paintings were then cut out and sewn to the larger landscape.

With this painting, my goal was to depict a collective portrait without depicting the people the portrait portrays. I wanted to express the idea that not all portraits are figurative, and also that not all representations of people are depictions of their faces. In many ways, I believe that an image representing the collective persona of a group of youth can, at times, be a more palpable portrayal of who they are and how they're feeling at any given time. And especially for youth, I believe this is an infinitely more engaging portrayal than a straight on depiction or portrait might be.

Manal Kadry assisted the students with their paintings and Henry Ford Academy, School of The Arts, funded its production.