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Snowboards inspire new medium for young artist

Daily Staff ReportVail CO, Colorado
Special to the Daily
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EAGLE COUNTY, Colorado Colorado artist Chris Nelson will have a solo exhibition at Vail Village Arts today from 4 to 9 p.m. and The Vickers Collection in Beaver Creek on Saturday from 4 to 9 p.m. Nelson has a unique style and a medium that is not typical in the art world. Nelson portrays landscape realism with a unique style of acrylic etching and reverse-painting application. Then he follows it up by heating the entire piece and bending it, which creates even more depth.Nelson received an education in art from the Rocky Mountain School of Art & Design. However, it was his part-time work at a snowboard shop that inspired his use of the clear acrylic panels. Working there with various acrylic materials, he saw incredible new possibilities. He went home and immediately began to develop a brand-new style, all his own. Nelson describes his work as follows: Burning, screaming, painful and dangerous. When I finish a piece, and finally get a chance to sit back and look at it, it seems hard to believe that from all that chaos, aggression and intensity involved in my process could come such a finished and fragile-looking thing.For years I have experimented with the medium of acrylic and have developed many techniques to achieve a look in my work that is not only new and different but stylish and bold. I have always been inspired by the landscape surrounding me, and it seems to always be influential in my thought process.Through the use of vibrant colors, anodized finishes and unique dimensions, my hope is only to capture just a piece of the beauty I see around me, and do it some small justice through my vision and inspiration, Nelson said.For more information about Chris Nelsons work or the Vickers Collection, call 845-7478.


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