Taming the Beast
photo: Jerry Atnip
artist profile
From a dingy little studio in East Nashville, artist J. H. Nelson takes a walk on the wild side by Joe Nolan
M
uscovy ducks are the earliest known domesticated ducks in the Americas. They were being raised by various
indigenous cultures since before the arrival of Columbus. They're much bigger than Mallards, with ink-black feathers and whitetufted heads, and their scarlet faces are covered in bumpy, textured skin. They're odd ducks all right, but also exotic and striking. These same terms can be applied to the massive, colorful, creaturefilled canvases of J. H. Nelson. The first time I saw From A Burial at Ornans—a 4' x 10' portrait of nearly a dozen Muscovys spread across three panels—I didn't know what the birds in the scene were. I guessed turkeys, buzzards, and vultures before Nelson let me off the hook. “I think they're beautiful things. They're beautiful animals, and I just wanted to take advantage of how weird they look,” says Nelson.
The title references the famous, massive painting by Gustave Courbet, which records the funeral of the painter's great uncle in 1848. At 10' x 22' that painting had a scale normally reserved for religious or historic subjects, but Courbet filled his scene, documenting common people at a common event in the setting of their own small village. It was both a massive scandal and a massive success. “In that Courbet painting, he painted all the people in this village. There is this lovely detail in the painting of these old ladies in white bonnets and white collars with a black background,” says Nelson. “I was like, OK. That's how I'm going to paint these ducks.” Nelson's birds bustle against a background of deep-green corn stalks and blue-slate slivers of night sky that finds the ugly ducks looking stately and noble—their black-and-white feathers taking on a formal air.
background: Roost, 2012, Oil on canvas, 78" x 160" 44 | July 2O13 NashvilleArts.com