Nathanael Gray's large-scale impasto paintings, typically created outdoors, reflect his interpretation of the California coast and mountains. Drawing influence from impressionism, post-impressionism, and abstract expressionism, his spontaneous approach often results in works completed in just over an hour. He has held shows at galleries across the country, including at Kay Contemporary Art in Santa Fe, NM, where he exhibits a mix of California and Southwest landscapes. In 2023, he held an exhibition with sculptor Kevin Box titled Nature’s Architecture. Nathanael also shows at Elliott Fouts Gallery in Sacramento, CA, where he has held three solo exhibitions: A Year in Tahoe (2020), I Only Went Out for a Walk (2021), and From the Delta to the Sea (2022). His work has been featured in publications such as American Art Collector, Western Art Collector, Art & Antiques, and Outdoorpainter.com.
At the core of Nathanael’s art practice is his deep connection with nature and the earth. He describes it as a meditation, or a physical expression of his inward reality connecting with the external forces of nature. His process often includes laying multiple canvases on the ground and working on them simultaneously. He will move from canvas to canvas—a single stroke here, a single stroke there. This process allows Nathanael to channel his entire body into a painting, and find a state of flow where body, canvas, and landscape become one. He often completes his pieces in one session without refinement in the studio; he is more concerned with creating an honest work that reflects the moment in which he created it than a perfect composition. Nathanael’s art serves a way to capture the fleeting nature of time—a moment that was here but is now gone.