With a name like Ed Nash, this native Brit turned Nashville resident artist seemed destined to live in the Music City. Yet his artistic reach is global. His work displays across America and the United Kingdom, with the underlying inspiration behind his style as the Japanese philosophy of Wabi-Sabi known as finding beauty through the imperfections of nature.
"Art is something everyone can surround themselves with right away to enjoy, without having to redecorate or redo everything," says Ed. "Each painting has a different voice, and provides a unique energy, which transforms the space it lives in."
He shares that the slower pace of the COVID-19 pandemic gave couples and families more time to shop together and jointly decide what they wanted to make focal points in their homes. Because many people weren't traveling, he says they purchased art as birthday or wedding anniversary gifts instead. He masked up and took paintings to people's homes to determine selections, or was commissioned to create artwork. "People often come to the studio to look at my paintings. But often an individual room can choose the painting because of practical reasons, such as scale, but also the energy it speaks into the room. Some people start their design process with a painting, others prefer it to be the midway or final point, which can propel the rest of the space,” he adds.
Ed is an artist, art dealer and appraiser who moved from England to Nashville in 2006. His expansive portfolio includes a recognizable style of abstract paintings, distinctive landscapes and "terrain pieces," which are three-dimensional interpretations of planets made with lava rock and a curious blend of materials. In exploring this theme, he creates tactile layers with strong composition and bursts of color.
This fine artist is known for his ability to create unique styles on canvas.
From his desk in his studio’s loft, Ed has a view of the 7,000 square feet of space where he paints and allows clients to browse the racks to find the paintings they love or see what's new on the easel. For example, he likes to combine glue, saw dust, paint pigments and wood pulp in some of his images. However, he recently added new sources to his palette of innovation.
"Over the last year or so, I was inspired to rework some of my canvases with new layers and fresh colors. I wanted to give them even more energy and texture. And I got some back out that I hadn't really finished prior to give them more depth," he says.
Gaining inspiration from visiting places, such as Jackson, Wyoming, and Big Sky, Montana, Ed says his artistic applications shifted, too.
Grand Prismatic Spring in Yellowstone National Park specifically motivated Ed. It's the largest hot spring in the United States, and the third largest in the world, after Frying Pan Lake in New Zealand and Boiling Lake in Dominica. The spring also is the most photographed thermal feature in Yellowstone. due to its crazy-bright colors and enormous size.
"I love the orange, yellow and teal colors produced by this hot spring. It's such an organic creature alive with geological processes. With Yellowstone being the first national park, photographers Thomas Moran and William Henry Jackson brought back images of the spring and wanted to show it off to the world. I thought it would be great to go there and re-enact the feeling of this topographic beauty from the aerial perspective," Ed recalls.
As well as in the homes, hotels and businesses of Nashville, Ed's paintings can be found in The Senate Building in Washington DC, The Tennessee State Museum, Hawaii Wailea Beach Resort and Spa, The Mandarin Oriental, Blackberry Farms TN, Nashville Airport and have even been featured during shows at the Ryman Auditorium. He's represented in local galleries, as well as in New York, Florida, Jackson WY and Asheville.
Anyone wishing to work with Ed first may want to review his website or Instagram gallery. He says people often commission paintings after they've seen a piece online but want it in different scale or palette, which he views as a fun process that often emerges into new concepts and themes.
"Many people lately have told me that for years they've wanted a painting but now they feel that because they are home more, they can finally enjoy it more,” he says.
1015 W. Kirkland Ave., Suite 414
615.496.2402
EdNashArt.com
