Our Visionary Artist
NEMO
Biography
Born in Miami, Florida, I've always been interested in cosmopolitan cultural mixing and striving to be a force for positive change. I learned early on that the only way you effectively change anything is by being the change yourself. After being depressed by pollution and deforestation as a child, I started Florida's first middle school environmental club, which earned me the award of Youth Conservationist of the Year in 1990 from the Florida Wildlife Foundation. My interests in international cultures led me to Japan at the age of 15 through a scholarship from the Rotary Club and culminated early on in being the president of my High School's Center for International Studies program. My formal schooling began at Harvard's summer program and then went on to Oberlin college where I earned a BA in the fields of Politics, Religion and East Asian Studies. While engaged in academics, I started a comic strip that went on for several years and founded a magazine, that continued to evolve for years after I graduated. Before focusing on art and design as methods to change consciousness and society, I explored non-profit political work in Washington, DC to further my academic interests and worked at such diverse centers such as The Institute for International Education, Center for Defense Information, National Conference of State Legislatures and the Sasakawa Peace Foundation USA. In 1999 a series of events left me stranded and car-less in a blizzard, forcibly locking me out of my DC world. In this strange period, I began to make art despite having no formal training; I just started letting my hands move to my own inner inspiration. Soon after, I began using the name Nemo for my artwork as an homage to the story of Odysseus and the concept of making art in a "no mind" state. I'm deeply inspired by exploring the ancient roots of the myths, philosophies and cosmologies that have enriched and formed much of creative expression for eons. My aesthetics encompasses both the ancient and modern world's rich and boundless treasures and neotribal visions of a past that never was. Premodern crafts and ornaments are often imbued with spirit, power and meaning. I believe that despite the glitter and sophistication of the modern world, we unconsciously desire the same comforts today. I seek to revivify the mass-produced & bring life to the inorganic. I believe that when a product's authentic spirit is showcased in its design, more customers will stop to try it out than the generic alternative. Whether working with clients to manifest resonant visions for the marketplace or painting on stage at a concert in an ambidextrous painting trance, I seek to blend our deep past with modern pragmatism to brew novel and exotic delicacies steeped in myth and imbued with spirit to delight the senses and inspire the mind.
