In its last few days, running through September 30, William Nelson: Love & Science is on-view at Cavalier Galleryin Chelsea.
As an artist William Nelson is constantly pursuing and perfecting his craft with diligence, employing traditional medium and historical techniques to inventive and original ends. He has the magic blend of vision, passion, and commitment (read: hard work) necessary for any artist to establish, sustain, and grow a collector base.
Nelson’s time machine is at its best in mashups: Nicole Kidman featured in an advertisement for a SLINKY, Tina Louise (Gilligan’s Island), Gina Lollobrigida (Trapeze), and Julie Newmar (Batman) paired with emoji thought balloons, and Lady Gaga’s signature glance, staring out with a rendering of a Pink Panther cartoon in the background.
Creating his own version of Pop Art while whimsically addressing the anxieties about the emergence of artificial intelligence, his AI Apocalypse paintings create an optimistic view of a future where scraped screenplays can’t compete with the genuine human touch. Rather than a future with the emergence of a sentient AI being that enslaves all of humanity and takes over the planet. The AI Robot Apocalypse Girl travels via roller skates, scooters, and Vespas, her bright pink form zooms past moments from New York’s past. She represents the seductive intrusion of smart technology and artificial intelligence in modern life and is inspired by fertility goddesses, like the Venus Figurines that were carved out of mammoth bone in the Paleolithic era. Ancient people looked to goddesses for good hunting and harvests, good fortune from mother nature, and safety in childbirth. That’s why she looks so… um… va, va voom! Normal proportions didn’t make her otherworldly.
