About the Artist
I came from a southern place,
a home of buttery biscuits and greasy gravy,
of whiskied, banjo picking, tobacco stained
Appalachian memories of a past
becoming more and more and more
and also more recently less obsolescent.
Nathaniel Wyrick is a 2014 graduate of the School of the Museum of Fine Arts and Tufts University MFA program. He has exhibited and performed throughout the US and Europe, most notably at the Piano Craft Gallery (Boston, MA), Panoply Performance Laboratory (Brooklyn, NY), Mobius (Cambridge, MA), Pacific Northwest College of Art (Portland, OR), and the Tempting Failure Festival (London, England). He is the recipient of grants through the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture & the Boston Arts Commission, the New Center for Arts and Culture and Combined Jewish Philanthropies, the North Carolina Arts Council, and a Post Graduate Teaching Fellowship award from the SMFA. He is currently based in Los Angeles, CA, where he works as the Assistant Vice President of Admissions for Pitzer College.
Nathaniel’s work is autobiographical, holding a twinge of longing for his southern roots. Much of his work is concerned with the exploration of queer identity with a focus on memory, domesticity, and historical traditions of Southern Americana. Through this lens, he examines the relationships he has established with people and site-specific locations. He approaches his creative practice as an opportunity to more deeply research and explore these interests.
Nathaniel works with a range of mediums. Concentrating in performance, installation, and print work, he utilizes the use of objects to help locate a history or sense of place that often speaks to the American South, specifically Appalachia. His performance and sculptural works often aid in constructing a site-specific ephemeral event or space, allowing the viewer to derive their own experience from the performative action and objects within that space. An ephemeral event is often short in duration and a re-creation of a fragmented image. With the passing of time, the viewer’s meaning and experience will undoubtedly shift. He aims to create connections between the artist’s personal history and that of the viewer. This approach has been guiding him in research and the creation of objects, prints, and performances.