Sun Records

FROSCH&CO is pleased to present Sun Records, Brad Nelson’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery and his inaugural solo presentation at the gallery’s East Broadway space. The artist lives and works in Falmouth, Massachusetts.

Brad Nelson’s recent paintings celebrate the everyday. Painting in his family room rather than in a space exclusively functioning as an artist studio, his examinations of familiar objects capture the mundane rhythm of our daily rituals. As in previous series, the sun plays a significant factor guiding the artist’s process in this new body of work.

It's a brand new try, with a brand new "I"

By a brand new window, by a brand new sky

Watching the brand new birds flying by

Oh lord it's changing

- Michael Nau, lyrics from “The Glass”

Brad Nelson has had this text by singer-songwriter Michael Nau in his head for the past few years and just recently realized that it accurately encompasses what his work has been attempting to do over the past years, which is to connect through painting to something that is fleeting and outside of his control: Seeing the newness or the unsuspected in predictability. The sun as a light source is the predictable variable and always present in the work, but how the artist connects to it feels endless. Similar to the revolution of a record on a turntable or the circularity of a ritual or habit, the Earth rotates and the little domestic space where he lives and works with his family on Cape Cod realigns with the sun, streaming in through the windows and doors to illuminate a new set of possibilities while searching for paintings. Striving to hold on to anything that is ephemeral and momentarily brilliant through the still-life-painting tradition, the works in Sun Records are conceptually grounded by song lyrics. The exhibition centers on the mundane quality of the subject matter, its ability to be easily overlooked, and how stunning anything can appear while being hit by direct sunlight. 

Falmouth, MA based Brad Nelson received a Bachelors degree in photography from the University of Kentucky, Post Baccalaureate Certificate, School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and an M.F.A. in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston/ Tufts University.

February 29 - April 7, 2024 Wednesday - Sunday, Noon - 6