Friday, December 16, 2016

Swirls Of Life Emerge From Hell's Kitchen

Ocean's Eye, 2014, by Nick Stavrides
The image above is a painting done by Nick Stavrides, a guy I went to high school with.

I wasn't friends with him, but I remember him being friendly.  And I remember him being cute.  I don't remember him being creative, although clearly that was something he always was.  We reconnected through Facebook several years ago when everyone in my high school class discovered social networking and started friending people willy-nilly.

He's an artist living in New York City now and does some really nice work.  Most of his work seemed to be paintings of fish, and when I started following him and learning about his work, I wondered why.  Then I came across the bio section of his website.

This is what it said:

"Nick Stavrides was born in Washington Heights in the late 60’s and resides in New York City/Hell’s Kitchen today. As a child, he would spend hours in the waters of Montauk, snorkeling and drifting among the fish. It was a place where he felt safe and is the inspiration for his fish series that’s consumed him for the last 10 years. A self-trained painter, Stavrides embraces the art of different tribes and cultures which gives his work a primitive quality. He also draws inspiration by observing New Yorkers in their daily rhythms on the streets and makes comparison between them and the schools of fish."

Makes complete sense now.

He paints other stuff too, but I am drawn to the fish.  I think the swirling schools of fish in the colors he uses are soothing.  And I really love the octopuses he's been doing, which you can see on his Instagram feed.

Check him out on NickStavrides.com, Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

And if you want an octopus for your home, he's now taking orders for limited signed prints of these two, via his Instagram feed.  Perfect for Christmas!


A photo posted by Nick Stavrides (@nick_art67) on 







~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~2015: Taking My Faux Fur And Heading To Arizona
2010: The Frozen Tundra
2009: Your Tax Dollars Hard At Work
2008: What’s Next, Reporting Your Maid In The Middle Of Her Dusting The Living Room Tsochkes?
2007: Fashion Forwards
2006: Swimming Po
2005: Just Call Me Rosa

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