KadirNelson氏

Nelson b. 1974 is an award-winning American author and artist based in Los Angeles, California. His salient original paintings reside in the permanent collections of several notable institutions including the United States House of Representatives, the Muskegon Museum of Art, The National Baseball Hall of Fame, United States Postal Museum, the International Olympic Committee in Lausanne, Switzerland, and most recently, the Lucas Museum of Narrative Art, the World Trade Center, the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, and the National Museum of African American History and Culture, among others. Upon earning a BFA from Pratt Institute, Nelson was selected by DreamWorks Pictures to create conceptual artwork to inspire the visuals for Steven Spielberg’s Oscar® nominated feature, Amistad and the animated feature, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron. He has since surmounted a distinguished list of clients including HBO, Rolling Stone, National Geographic, Disney, ABC, Hennessy, and Sony Music, for whom he painted the cover artwork for Michael Jackson’s posthumous album, “Michael,” which was listed in the Guinness Book of Records® as the largest poster in the world. Nelson was also commissioned to paint the iconic album cover for the multi-platinum selling album, Nothing Was the Same by recording artist Drake; as well as over a dozen popular commemorative US postage stamps honoring Major League All-Stars Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, NBA great Wilt Chamberlain, and the prince of soul, Marvin Gaye, which have altogether sold several million stamps. Nelson’s striking artwork has also frequently graced the covers of The New Yorker magazine, paying tribute to historical figures, New York City, and popular American life. In 2020, Nelson was tapped by the publication to visually document the turbulent year as the world faced both a global pandemic and critical social and political movements. His masterful cover painting, Say Their Names artfully memorialized the historical events around the murder of George Floyd and was named the most viral cover of the year by Ad week receiving over 8million social impressions. For the July cover issue of Rolling Stone, Nelson commemorated grassroots activism and the swirling Black Lives Matter movement with, American Uprising, a modern spin on Eugéne Delacroix’s masterpiece, Liberty Leading the People. And finally, to celebrate season 7 of ABC’s hit television sitcom Black-ish, Nelson was commissioned to paint the key art entitled, Blackish Tea, a classy and humorous commentary on the social impact of the tumultuous year. In 2020, Nelson was awarded the coveted Caldecott Medal and the Coretta Scott King Illustrator Award for the masterful book, THE UNDEFEATED, written by Kwame Alexander. Among Nelson’s other accolades are the prestigious Hamilton King Award from the Society of Illustrators in New York, Freelancer of the Year Award from The Art Directors Club, multiple Caldecott Honors, Coretta Scott King Author and Illustrator Awards from the American Library Association, New York Times Best Illustrated Book Awards, and an Olympic Art Bronze Medal. Nelson’s primarily figurative paintings and sculptures focus on historical narratives and heroic subjects in American culture and are often informed by the Old Masters like Ingres, Michelangelo, Hopper, and Tanner. His sumptuous settings and subjects, rich palette, and realistic, yet painterly technique speaks to both modern realism and masterly works of turn-of-the century American painters.