John Randall Nelson’s paintings exist somewhere between story and abstraction, memory and invention. He builds them from fragments of everyday life—images, symbols, words, mythology, popular culture, and personal associations—layering, obscuring, sanding, and repainting them until unexpected connections emerge.
Nelson thinks of himself as a storyteller, but his stories remain deliberately open-ended. Familiar images suggest meaning without fully revealing it, inviting viewers to make their own connections and narratives.
The paintings are also records of their own making. Earlier images remain buried beneath the surface, creating a sense of memory, time, and continual discovery.
“Ambiguity and metaphor are central to my work,” Nelson says. “Because there is always something more to discover, it reveals itself more slowly and has greater longevity.” John Randall Nelson
