Artist Statement
Truth is the penumbra. It is not the shadow. It is not the light. It’s the maelstrom of the two. Dahlstrom inserts himself there: between abstraction and realism, between light and dark. He does not wish to bisect the line between the two but rather embrace the blurr. His process is heavily dependent on the distortion and transformation of the dichotomy. By pushing his subjects far beyond what they began as he is able to examine their true essence.
Every piece, every endeavor is an experiment. If the results are predicted or fabricated the piece doesn’t work. Each decision must be a reaction to observation. The Artist must be open to any possibility, even if they do not like it. For Dahlstrom the truth is the process. The work is just a by-product.
Nick Dahlstrom was born in Pittsburgh, PA. He studied art at Albion College in Albion Michigan. During that time he had the opportunity to study in Florence, Italy, as well as the surrounding Tuscany area through the SACI Program. While there he was inspired by the Renaissance Artist’s pursuit to understand perspective and build a culture with art. After school, in 2014, he moved to Durham, NC and calls it home today. Dahlstrom uses painting to examine the photographic image and redefine the border between realism and abstraction. In 2021, Dahlstrom was juried into the artist Co-Op space “Golden Belt Artists’ located in downtown Durham. It’s there that Dahlstrom builds community in the art scene by hosting events like weekly figure drawing sessions and more.