Justin Nuyda’s 1995 Nude combines his impressive grasp on the female anatomy and the dream-like poeticism of his Mindscape series, an indication of the creativity that would mark the artist as one of the country’s foremost modernists.
The lot at hand depicts four figures, naked as their name day, engaged in some sort of dance with their bodies curved and pressed at the hip. Their faces are not drawn, urging the viewers to focus on the tangle of their limbs and the way light hits every curve and crevice of their bodies. However, Nuyda leaves the commonly used realistic coloring behind when it comes to his palette – instead, he creates a soft glow around the bodies, mimicking a candle’s light as the glow slowly disperses as it moves further from the work’s center. The furthest limbs – the women's legs and arms – slowly dissolve into the background, creating an almost ethereal effect when viewed, as though the women are floating with no care in the world.
The spontaneity with which Nuyda approaches his works elevates the poeticism that lies within them. “I am a very spontaneous painter,” he said. “I paint as I go [and] I compose as I paint. I create based on intuition and feeling most of the time.” This freedom in his process allows Nuyda to create a deeply personal work that would resonate with a person just as intimately as it did for the people before and after them. (Hannah Valiente)
Accompanied by a certificate issued by the heirs of the artist confirming the authenticity of this lot