Providence,

2023

<p> Nelson made <em>Providence</em> by pouring thinned acrylic paint onto the back of an unprimed canvas and letting the paint seep through to the front. The result is a multicolored web of pools, splotches, and skeins that permeate the surface chaotically, throwing into question the distinction between recto and verso. Nelson revels in the immediacy and instability of stain painting, a process pioneered in the 1950s by the artists Helen Frankenthaler, Morris Louis, and Jackson Pollock. It allows the artist to relinquish a degree of control over the final composition to chance and the properties of their materials. As Nelson says, “I get the painting started and then I follow the paint.” </p>