Carrie Nygren
With a disciplined approach based on classical painting technique and draftsmanship, combined with modern composition, Carrie Nygren’s oil paintings evoke the unique nobility, power and majestic athleticism of the horse.
The intentional absence of background changes the story, simplifies it and allows the viewer to focus on the subject in front of them. The white background also acts as a “bath of white light” that plays into the story, while creating a balance of negative and positive space, light and dark.
Born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Nygren was surrounded by art at an early age, initially influenced by her father who was a wildlife bird painter and who eventually migrated to wildlife sculpting and bronze casting. After pursuing her MFA, from which Old Masters techniques were a vital part of her program, she carried the oldschool formulas and thin layering of oils into her current painting process, though she never wants viewers to be aware of the process, but rather aware of the subject.
It wasn’t until she moved her family to Wisconsin, and riding became a part of life, that horses became a focal subject matter. Anatomy, motion, emotion, dimensional volume, weight and tension all contribute to the evocative horse paintings that capture not only the “portrait” of the horse, but the nuanced and unique power and strength of equine form. Her paintings read as realism from a distance, but upon close inspection, the multitude of colored layers reveal a different perspective. Her mission is to find a balance between traditional painting and contemporary composition, which is particularly apparent in her current series of polo paintings.
Nygren was announced as the official artist of the 2020 Windsor Charity Polo Cup event to be held in Vero Beach, Florida. In addition to being an award-winning artist, she is a member of the American Academy of Equine Art, an Associate member of both Oil Painters of America and American Women Artists as well as a Signature member of Society of Animal Artists.
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(414) 491-3854 | cnygrenart@gmail.com www.cnygrenart.com