Introducing Nathan Foxton
Painter Nathan Foxton recently took up studio residence in the Underground of the Harrison Center. Having worked with HCA before, and also having recently completed his MFA at IU in Bloomington, Foxton jumped at the chance to be a part of our unique artist community. “Artists in the Harrison Center are all about the real world of art, which is really refreshing for me just coming out of the academic art world,” Nathan said, “I’m excited to be a part of the Harrison Center because it is a great hub for connecting artists to what’s going on in the city.”
Growing up in the beautiful upstate New York town of Rochester on the coast of Lake Ontario, Foxton had, from an early age, a palatial disposition in working with our visible spectrum. Through this disposition, he has and is continuing to hone his talents in painting. “Painting makes sense for me,” he explained, “I’d always drawn, and then I realized that I am good with color. It made sense for me to take the tonal nuances of drawing into the 360 degree spectrum of color in painting.”
With respect to painting’s appeal Foxton elaborated, “I enjoy working with such a historic medium while also realizing that the colors I use, and the way I am painting today has only been made possible in the last 200 years.”
Foxton brings to the Harrison Center’s community a fresh and well-read perspective on art and it’s purpose. He comes to us with the idea that the artist needs to respond to his or her context. By keeping work critical and yet also edifying, the artist will grow with the context, the artist will challenge the context, and all the while the artist will bring others together in awe of our complex world. “Art is a cultural expression that can bring people together in a community. Art brings people together who would probably never end up in the same room for any other reason,” he explained conclusively. We couldn’t agree more.
So if you see Nathan Foxton around the Harrison Center, be sure to introduce yourself and check out his stellar paintings, learn from his contextual response, and maybe you will begin to see as Picasso did that “the purpose of art is washing the dust of daily life off of our souls.”