Photo by Mario Gallucci courtesy of Chefas Projects
Employing a deeply layered process of hiding and revealing gestural marks and traces of handwriting, Nate Ethington explores the poetics of connection and communication through painting.
Ethington pushes these notions of dualities and contradictions, of both carefully sharing and closely guarding one’s intimacies through his gestures of texture and mark making. Emphasizing intuitive compositions of thick impasto focal points over neutral fields of color, traces of written words and subtle scribbles suggest the haziness of fleeting thoughts and memories of conversations with no determinable beginning or end.
Nate Ethington (b. 1977) is a self-taught abstract painter based in Portland, Oregon. Known for working with acrylic paints, oil pastels and oil sticks, graphite, charcoal, and spray paint on canvas, Ethington creates striking compositions that explore the interplay of color and texture. He is best known for his use of tones and tints, where thick impasto focal points create tension against often neutral fields of color, scattered with spontaneous marks and traces of handwriting.
Ethington has exhibited at Chefas Projects in Portland, OR and Galerie Jardin in Paris, France. His works are part of numerous private collections worldwide, and he participated in the Leland Ironworks Residency. Through his exhibitions and ongoing artistic practice, Ethington continues to explore the emotional and expressive potential of color and abstraction. Nate Ethington is represented by Chefas Projects.
Select Exhibitions
Solo
2020 Hellespont: Hero and Leander, Red e Café Gallery, Portland, OR
2019 Nine Views of a Life Built on Sinking Sand, Cascadia Pilates, Portland, OR
2018 Collection of Large Works, Groundwork Coffee, Portland, OR
2017 Nine Views of a Life Built on Sinking Sand, Albina Press, Portland, OR
2016 Ryou-Un Maru, Cafe Fiore, Seattle,WA
2016 Ryou-Un Maru, Beam & Anchor, Portland, OR
2016 Ghostly Steel and Iron Ore Ships Going Home, Locale Portland, OR
2015 Our Box of Letters on Your Wedding Day, N.W.I.P.A Portland, OR
2013 Astoria, Valley Rowe, Portland, OR
2012 Selected works for a six month installation, Anthropologie, Portland, OR and Anthropologie, Tigard, OR
2011 Rhododendron, Anthropologie, Portland,OR
Group
2019 Recycled Rain Project - Juried Show, Ford Gallery, Portland, OR
2018 Recycled Rain Project - Juried Show, Ford Gallery Featured Artist, Portland, OR
2017 Recycled Rain Project - Juried Show, Ford Gallery, Portland, OR
2016 Leland Ironworks Residents Exhibition, PNCA Portland, OR
2016 Recycled Rain Project - Juried Show (May 2016), Olympic Mills Gallery, Portland, OR
2015 Recycled Rain Project - Juried Show, Portland, OR
2014 Kowloon Walled City, Galerie Jardin, Paris, France
2011 Climbers Group Show, Migration, Portland, OR
2010 First Thursday, Crave Dog Records, Portland, OR
Residency
2016 Awarded a month-long paid residency at Leland Ironworks, home of the sculptor Lee Kelly Collections
Original works held in private collections in the United States, Canada, France, Spain, and New Zealand.