A third-generation Asian-American who wears his black hair long and calls Santa Fe, New Mexico home, Joel Nakamura is frequently stopped on the street by tourists and asked what pueblo he's from. When he answers with a straight face, "The Sukiyaki Pueblo," more often than not they don't get it. Instead, they politely ask him if they can take his picture.
While at first blush this anecdote may seem humorously absurd, there could be something more to it than a case of mistaken cultural identity. Joel is an artist whose work draws heavily on the cultural and spiritual expressions of primitive tribes. His style is reminiscent of Aboriginal bark paintings and Maori tattoo designs. Indeed, a good case could be made that Joel Nakamura is the lone member of a Tribe of One.
Born in Los Angeles, Joel credits his parents with his interest in art. Both were art educators who stirred his curiosity in the arts through travel when he was young - to Mexico, where he developed a taste for folk art featuring devils and skeletons; to Japan, where he learned Sumi painting techniques at Temple Shokoku-Ju; and to Europe, where he was fascinated by Medieval Catholic shrines to saintly relics.
Creativity flows like oxygen through Nakamura blood - his uncle was one of the designers of the Corvette - so it came as no surprise when Joel enrolled in the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena in 1982. There, he developed a unique aesthetic sensibility: a technical mastery of graphic illustration, combined with a special ability to translate complex contemporary ideas into highly-detailed imagery that told a story symbolically. And told it in a way that was delightfully colorful and unconventional, yet accessible.
A commercial illustrator who solved problems graphically, was how Joel saw himself; and others saw him in this light too. Immediately, upon graduation, he began designing movie poster concepts for Hollywood; and a marketing concept - "Run for the Border" - for Taco Bell. One job led to another and soon he was doing commercial work for companies on the order of Nike and Budweiser, and illustrating articles for the likes of the Los Angeles Times, Rolling Stone Magazine, Time and U.S. News and World Report. Perhaps the brightest feather in his commercial cap came about when he was asked to illustrate the opening program for the 2000 Winter Olympics.
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Creative Dream
by Joel Nakamura
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On a visit to Santa Fe in the mid-90s, Joel found it to be an inspirational place that nurtured the creative spirit, not to mention how much he enjoyed the impressive line-up of museums, especially the Museum of International Folk Art. He moved there with his schoolteacher wife in 1996, started a family, and while he continued with his commercial projects, he started making more time for "fine art." Using tin as a canvas - an homage to the Spanish Colonial tin work and retablo paintings displayed at the Folk Art Museum - he expanded on his ability to conceptualize complex subject matter, exploring such contemporary themes as life, death, good, evil, health, communication, in his trademark primitive yet sophisticated imagery. Soon, in addition to commercial clients, he found himself eagerly sought after by prestigious art Santa Fe galleries.
The challenge of balancing imagery drawn from ancient cultures and visual concepts born of the high-tech world - illustrating ideas like intellectual property rights and cyber-security using mythological figures and monsters, for example - keeps Joel's creative flame burning high. "Folk art with an urban edge," he describes his work. And it is from this same wellspring of inspiration that his enthusiasm for painting Ponies comes.
Joel's first Pony created for The Trail was the life-size Thunderbird Suite, which raised almost $20,000 for the Santa Fe Youth Symphony, and has been translated into a popular figurine. So well received was his artwork that he created a second Pony, Kokopelli, which has also been crafted as a figurine.
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Residence: In the hills southeast of Santa Fe, New Mexico, on a rough dirt road that deserves its name: Bobcat Trail.
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Biggest Artistic Influence: When I was ten my father, who was a professor of art, took a sabbatical and for six months we toured the museums of Europe. That's where I was introduced to Joan Miro and Pablo Picasso. Their ability to distill ideas into images, their use of symbols and abstraction, became the essence of what I wanted to talk about as an artist.
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Favorite Song: Books on Tape. That's my favorite thing to listen to while I work.
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Favorite Color: Red and Blue. Don't ask me why. |
Favorite Words of Advice: Always do your best. I take that approach in my art, in sports, in life. Also, Have honor.
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Personal Hero: Joseph Campbell. I remember when "The Power of Myth" had just come out, and I was driving up the coast listening to the radio and he was being interviewed. He was talking about how it was the responsibility of artists to mythologize modern culture, and I kept driving until he stopped talking. |
Contact Information: For more information about Joel Nakamura, or to contact him, visit his website: www.joelnakamura.com. |
Current Painted Pony Figurines by Joel Nakamura:
"Thunderbird Suite"
"Kokopelli Pony"
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