Meet Nate Green | Artist and Engineer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Nate Green and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Nate, why did you pursue a creative career?
I was an engineer for a lot of years and never thought I had much creative skill. When COVID hit, I would get together with some friends who were artists and we would all paint together outside-painting for a few minutes before passing the painting along to the next person.

That time really unlocked something in me. I saw that, with work, I could get get better. Also, I enjoyed the ability to create a world-to see a slice of time where there was some tension about was happening or what might happen.

Two years ago, I went part time at my engineering job and started trying to paint “seriously”.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I’ve always loved surrealism and art that gave you kind of a sense of displacement. I’ve only been painting regularly for two years. In the first year, I painted a lot of the things that everyone paints initially-still lifes, landscapes, flowers, etc.

Over the past year, I’ve been painting a bunch of people. Usually there’s something weird going on. It might be a bird sprouting from a body or fruit suspended in the air. Some of it is beautiful, and some of it is unsettling.

Art isn’t easy! Coming from a regular 9-5 job, it’s a whole different skillset to figure out how to get people to see your art. You can know all the technique in the world, but if no one knows your art, nothing will ever happen. This is all still a challenge, so when I figure out the answer, I’ll let you know.

A year or so ago, a more experienced artist told me my work had an outsider feel which I bristled at a little bit, because that’s usually shorthand for “this rube managed to get some paint on the canvas instead of drinking it”.

Sometime after that, I read the book “Imagine” by Jonah Lehrer. He tells the story of the ad agency who came up with “Just Do It” for Nike. Every year, the agency brings in a class of people with no experience in advertising and trains them to be a part of the agency. The firm’s rationale is that, without all the baggage of a traditional ad person, they are free to come up with ideas wouldn’t occur to their usual hires. The founder said something like “We bring in these weird fuckups who won’t make the same mistakes as everyone else”.

I know that I’m going to make bad art sometimes, but hopefully it’s interesting bad art. If I’m going to be a “weird fuckup” I hopefully can at least make people say “woah”.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Two of my favorite things are comedy and barbecue, so it would be heavy on that. Terry Black’s, Goldee’s, Hurtado and Heim barbecue are all really good.

Dallas Comedy Club has interesting national comedians, local talent, and also sketch and improv that are really fun.

Four Day Weekend improv is also great and consistent.

The Modern Art Museum in Fort Worth is my happy place. I always leave there feeling energized for my next projects.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My wife Jennifer.
My friends Scott Dykema and Jennifer Galanis.

Website: https://nategreenart.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nategreen98/