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CLUSTER CRAFTS FAIR

BIOGRAPHY

Patrick Nash was born in 1959, in Buffalo NY. He attended SUNY Buffalo where he studied History, film and media. There, he met and was influenced by Tony Conrad who introduced him to the work of Stan Brakhage and other experimental film-makers. He moved to New York’s East Village in 1982 and began making animated super 8 films and creating electric, kinetic sculptures for performance art. During this period he began working with cast ceramics, crude mechanical sequencers, and neon.  In 1984, he produced two notable kinetic light installations, one at El Pueblo Gallery on East Houston Street in New York City, and one at Hallwalls Gallery in Buffalo NY. In 1987 he worked at the Museum of Holography in Soho, where he designed and built numerous installations, including the “Through the Looking Glass” at the former premises of FAO Schwarz on 5th Avenue. During the period from 1992 through 1994, he exhibited works of neon and cast cement at Let There Be Neon’s rotating permanent exhibit in Tribeca. Also at that time, he performed and composed music with the band Spawnbath on the Lower East side. In 2017, after a hiatus of more than ten years, he had a solo show at SL Gallery in midtown Manhattan entitled “Unfinished Business.”  The success of that show led to subsequent shows at NYU Gallatin and Cluster Crafts in London UK.  In addition to the studio work, he maintains  a vibrant commercial practice at Patrick Nash Design.  He also works in experimental theater, mounting shows that involve prose, music, light and movement.

A WORD FROM CLUSTER CRAFTS

When Patrick Nash accepted to be part of our ever first fair in 2018 was a dream come true. His exquisite pieces complemented our vision and brought a unifying feel to the show. It was an absolute honour to have him and his team flying all the way from New York City to London for our exhibition. Seeing his approach, professionalism and listening to his inspiring talk was mind-opening. Hearing about Patrick’s success within the commercial world and how that can take over his artistic practice was another incentive to keep working with him, and continue showing his work to the world.

Leading up to the cluster Crafts fair in October, where Patrick Nash will be showcasing his new works, we will also be holding Guerrilla interventions around the capital where we hope to provoke, inspire and engage spectators while also attracting new audiences with Patrick’s striking pieces.

What is the drive behind the work you’re preparing for The Cluster Crafts Fair?

The work I’m doing now continues the the exploration of light and the tension between organic and rectilinear forms, but with a new dimension.  As sculpture, most of my past work used almost exclusively white light, appropriate for an architectural environment.  My new work is about chromaticity and photo period, so it involves colour and time.

What would you like to achieve with your show?

My plan is not so narrative, or theatrical, but more geared to a gallery, or exhibit type of experience. It involves alternating, strobing, monochromatic light, (red and blue) so it will definitely be high-impact, visually. My intention is for the viewer  to become aware of the space around the light sources, and to experience colour in conflict. Monochromatic light always has a disturbing, authoritarian character, depriving the environment of contrast, which is what makes it so annoying when used architecturally. The show has a 5-minute cycle, so viewers can pass through or linger. Each individual neon piece can be stared at for 5 minutes and ideally, induce a series of “hallucinations” in the peripheral vision. Photographs do not really represent the experience.

The biggest challenges you’re facing in the studio currently? How do you solve the challenges?

The biggest challenge my studio practice is facing right now is also the best thing that ever happened to it. With the shut down and the shelter-in-place order came the complete collapse of my commercial practice.  Six weeks ago we were a very busy shop with 15 full-time coworkers and jobs lined up for the foreseeable future.  That whole thing disappeared over night, and for the first time in 30  years I’ve had the chance to really think without the constant interruptions and demands of running a commercial neon shop.  So, the problem is, my mind is racing in a hundred different directions at all times.  And the good news is, my mind is racing in a hundred different directions at all times.  I haven’t felt this way since 1978 when I took LSD.

Has PND Neon explored producing experiential installation pieces in the past?

Yes! Last summer we conceived, wrote and produced a musical called Beulah Land.  Part of that production involved creating a fake pharmaceutical company called Excellon. In the lobby of the theatre we built a “pop-up clinic” where people could learn about the non-existent benefits of our fake wellness products, and also have a fake medical procedure called “Total Amputation” which removes the undesirable characteristics from a bad person.  It was kind of like a stand-up MRI, and patients received a decorative vial of their distilled negative characteristics.  The clinic was very successful and made approximately $400.00 in amputation fees alone.

In addition to that, We also had plans to create a “NO SHOP” shop.  The idea was to create an environment that would sell anti-capitalist products.  But I think we got bogged town in the irony of it all, and though we haven’t yet opened the shop, we have developed a number of products, some of which are available on Etsy at : stickerSHOCKstickers.