Meet Nolan Flynn of Salt Lake City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nolan Flynn.

Hi Nolan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstories with our readers.
I lost and, without direction, worked a day job that paid for my expenses and bills in the heart of Kalamazoo, Michigan. After finishing my undergraduate degree in painting, I opened up a studio gallery at the famed Park Trades Center. I lived for my time there after work, painting till early in the morning every chance I got. After about 3 years of relative success, continuing the same path wasn’t as exciting. I made wonderful friends and artists but yearned for more. Creating beautiful paintings seemed commonplace, and I wanted to pivot into something I loved rather than continue working for what I loved. I applied next throughout the country to MFA schools. I eventually landed in Salt Lake City, Utah. Never having been there prior, I packed up all my gear and belongings and drove a truck out to Utah. Never before been to the desert southwest, it was an experience. For the next two years, I worked harder than I ever allowed myself to under the umbrella of art. I lived in my studio, working late and sleeping there 3 times a week. I had some savings from when I worked in Michigan. This allowed me to focus solely on my education, ultimately focusing on post-verbal communication through marks. Finishing in the two years as planned, I finished and felt like I was on top of the world. I planned to be a professor and an artist equally. After graduating, I worked as an adjustment professor and lived in the basement of one of my now best friends basement. Adjusting to life was hard. Only making 14K a year was not enough to live. Finding myself in a similar situation, I worked harder on my artwork through covid and transitioned from a professor role into a high school teacher. I now teach art to high school students but found a wonderful balance between being an artist and teaching collectively. I now focus more on contemporary iconography and concepts with my students and continue to explore the vast world of marks from naivety to intention.

Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No, haha, not at all. I think it was hardest to leave Michigan and move, not knowing anyone. Leaving everything I knew and becoming a ghost in a place I didn’t understand. Chasing a fever and a dream I know would pay off, but balancing your parent’s health, family and friends made separation tough. However, this separation allowed me the razor-sharp focus I needed in graduate school, and I appreciated the time.

Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
I specialize in mixed media works, from oils on canvas to crayon, charcoal, and airbrush under the epoxy. I am most proud of my body of work that questions our ideas of a finished piece. They have been shown at the Utah Museum of Contemporary Arts and Bulgaria. The works within that realm create a narrative surrounding the decisions made while working through the aesthetic and conceptual questions on the painting surface. The paintings typically involve naive marks or simple, accessible moves, improving the accessibility of the work. The subjects within the works are composed of external stressors, internal battles, and conversations, similar to a sketchbook. While in the act of painting, meta critiques exist that change and influence the response of the subsiding marks. Ultimately, my embrace of the unusual, challenging color pallets and urgent applications create a conversation that sets my work aside from the more aesthetic first-type paintings.

Do you have any advice for those just starting?
Do exactly what you want. Go after your dreams, and don’t let anyone change your focus. It’s okay to fail. Learn from your mistakes and keep pushing. You have to be your own Clement Greenberg and Jackson Pollock.

Contact Info:

• Website: nolanflynnart.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/flynnone/

Image Credits
Nolan Flynn Mikey Barratta