ISS ARTISTS
Rick Nez (Navajo)
P.O. Box 1827
Kirtland, NM 87417
505-801-5665
ricknez@hotmail.com
Santa Fe Indian
Market Booth: 746 LIN-E
Native American sculptor Rick Nez has always had dreams of someday becoming and artist. Since 1986 his dream has become a reality as he carves stones and is represented by numerous art galleries.
Many of his ideas for his artwork are like stories, rife with ancient Navajo religious and cultural symbols, becoming from within the stone, to be drawn out by the visionary. The carvings take the viewer to the distant past, or open a window into the present moment of Native American life and thought. Inspiration for Nez is generated by the people surrounding him, as well as those who have come before. He pulls from the environment around him and tries to bring the warmth of life into the cold surface of stone. A man soft of voice, his work speaks for itself. Each work radiates with an eternal fable in the face and posture of each striking figure.
Being stationed in Europe gave Nez a true appreciation for the artistic depth of his own heritage. During his tour in Nuremberg, Germany with the military in the early eighties, Nez spent much of his free time frequenting museums and galleries, absorbing the styles and details of a legacy of the great artists in the European tradition. The exposure to such enlightened work cultivated a restless desire to create, and inspired Nez to explore and cultivate his own god given talent.
Returning to his home on the Navajo reservation in Fruitland, New Mexico, Nez began to understand the level of his own commitment to the arts and his motivation to make stone sculpture his life work. Stone carving stood out almost immediately as his favorite medium, of expression, and despite the difficulties posed by the stone as a worthy adversary, Nez poured his heart into his work. He rapidly gained a noteworthy reputation among his fellow Native American sculptors, and this notoriety transferred just as quickly to private collectors across the country.
Rick Nez, a member of the Indigenous Sculptors Society, has an artistic future which looms large and bright. Nez attributes much of his success to the support of his beloved wife Audrey and four children, and points to their shared journey through life as a major inspiration to his work. One can hardly help approaching the work of Rick Nez without some reflection of the reverent spirit he transfers to each of his works. (from http://www.kivaindianart.com/artistInfo.asp?ID=162)
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