In a town rife with artists, it can often be difficult to get noticed or make a living as a painter. So it says a lot for this local artist, known only as Nemo, to get the attention of so many people. With regular shows at a number of venues around Eugene, in addition to performances at the annual Burning Man Festival and murals painted on the sides of buildings in North Carolina, Nemo has made his two-syllable moniker well-known in alternative culture.
With such a wide range of accomplishments under his belt, Nemo still sees the central problem of being an artist in Eugene as a simple one.
“The greatest challenge is not creativity, but being economically viable,” he said. “I like inspiring others to be creative and to make their own art. But at the same time I need to pay the bills. In that way, Eugene is hard.”
To this end, Nemo has found a number of ways to be creative while staying afloat in tough economic times. He has designed concert posters for bands like the String Cheese Incident and the Greyboy Allstars, he has put his art on sweatshirts and he has prints for sale all over town.
“The project I’m working on right now is the graphic design for a company making a line of pornographic rolling papers,” Nemo said. “My job is to work with other artists and make it look pretty.”
One of Nemo’s strengths is that, in the world of art, his technique is atypical.
“I started by doing marker drawings,” he said. “When I started, I had no clue about painting, what brushes to buy and all that. So I looked for something familiar, and markers were easy.”
But doing work in marker presents its own difficulties, mostly because people do not take it seriously, Nemo said. And while the form is more often found in “disreputable” art forms, such as comic books and rock poster art, it is still precise work.
“I can spend 12 hours a day hunched over a draft table,” Nemo said, adding that he works meditatively. “A lot goes into it. I’ve been doing more painting recently, and I find there is more freedom with painting since it’s not as precise. Precision can often limit freedom.”
Another area not often considered artistically valid, but that Nemo has come to specialize in, is 3-D art.
“I used to sell paintings by the side of the road,” Nemo said. “What I found was that people were more likely to look at my stuff if I gave them a pair of 3-D glasses to look through. Sometimes they would be skeptical, then they would look through the glasses and see the art pop out at them.”
Performance also plays a role in Nemo’s work. Often at his exhibits, he will paint a piece in public, working ambidextrously. This eclecticism as a performer and artist has also earned him fans, particularly among Eugene’s alternative art galleries.
“I think it has a lot of color and depth,” said Shawn Mediaclast,the owner of the Museum of Unfine Art and Record Store. The museum, located at 537 Willamette St., has shown Nemo’s work in the past.
“The 3-D glasses were a real bonus. The art really jumps out at you, literally,” he said.
Walt Hunt, owner of New Odyssey Juice and Java on 1044 Willamette St., which also had showings of Nemo’s art, also said good things about Nemo’s work.
“I think that we look for art where it’s not and we find it where we don’t expect it,” Hunt said. “That’s where Nemo stands.”
Examples of Nemo’s art can be found at his Web site, http://www.nemo.org.