Pouring His Heart Out: An American Painter 

With excerpts from an essay by musician and artist Angelica Hay 

“Perhaps what draws me to Nuel Friend’s work is the same relatability that draws me to listening to and making instrumental music. Artists like Nuel are similar to musicians whom are able to make work that acts as emotional mirrors and landscapes. Their works are both intimate and vast. 

Nuel Friend strives to create works that are not only an outpouring of his own emotions, sometimes literally with polyurethane, but that are also fluid in the way they are interpreted. His motivation, like my own, is very much about the authentic expression of feelings without trying to control the interpretation of the final outcome. Like many artists, we are hoping to elicit an emotional response in our audience. Yet, while Nuel succeeds beautifully in that venture, it is not his sole reason for painting. He is compelled to paint just as I am compelled to make music, and a tension exists between each of us and our creative outlets between the desire and joy of making and the need to make. 

If By Nuel Friend, collection of Alexis Ader and David Lewis

Nuel’s curiosity of unconventional materials and sensitivity to texture builds on the tension that he creates with chroma. Friend creates relief and depth using concrete trowel patch, plastic wrap, and polyurethane.” 

For more information about commissions or available artwork, please contact Nuel at basqko@comcast.net. 

Angelica Hay, a friend of the artist, is a writer, musician, painter, and new media artist. Once based in Grand Rapids, MI, now lives in Los Angeles, California, with her husband Ryan. A fellowship recipient, Angelica graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design in 2019 with an M.F.A in Painting and M.A. in Visual and Critical Studies.