Interview with Marie Nyquist

Talking with painter Marie Nyquist was an easy, pleasurable exchange that covered everything from the moment she knew she wanted to be a painter to the work of Bonnard, Enoc Perez, Emory Douglas, and her view of the place of art in the world. Below are some excerpts:

AVR: You paint mostly portraits. They have great color sense and a deft, elegant quality. Can you talk about your work?

MN: I like oil and watercolor. I experiment with different supports. I’ll paint on drywall or masonite. They give a watercolory effect to the oil. That gives me the freedom of oil with the look of watercolor. I did a painting of my roommate on drywall and I was going to cut out a piece of the wall and install it while she was gone. A full painting appears overnight, totally dry. Like graffiti.

AVR: Do you see yourself ever going into abstraction?

MN: I like to mix it up. If I just did portrait after portrait, I’d burn out. Sometimes I just find that a certain motion in paint feels good and then I look at it. Portraiture involves a lot seeing, documenting. And then a certain motion -- that has nothing to do with documenting -- just feels good and looks good too.

AVR: A lot of your paintings are fairly small. Do you prefer that format?

MN: I’d really like to do a full-length portrait. Right now though I’m waiting for a studio. I’m painting in my basement without an easel. I think I have five small paintings going at once. Ever hear the saying “familiarity breeds contempt”? That’s how I often end up feeling about a big painting. By the time I get to the end, I get so angry, like, why did I do that? But with a lot of small paintings, I can switch back and forth, and return with fresh eyes.

AVR: When did you start painting?

MN: I've been painting for as long as I can remember. The first painting that I loved was for pre-school graduation. It was a life-size self-portrait and I was so proud of it. After that, I just always wanted to paint.

AVR: Do you still have it? No. My dad threw it out. It was hanging on the laundry room door and I think he just figured, "What’s this doing here?" I was so angry. I wouldn’t let him throw out my sister’s.

AVR: Which artists inspire you now?

MN: I liked the Enoc Perez show. I liked the colors. I never used those colors. That turquoise and bright yellow. I don’t know how to use those colors. I like Bonnard. Richard Baker, my Painting II instructor, introduced me to Bonnard. He said, "I wanted you to see this." Richard is the best. He sees what you are thinking about and knows what you need to be thinking about next. And I want to be painting like Bonnard.

AVR: Do you look at a lot of other work? What did you think of the shows at the New Museum, for instance?

MN: Sometimes looking at a lot of work feels like too much inspiration. I need to be working instead. I liked the Emory Douglas show a lot. I thought about whether an art museum was the right place to see his work, because his work is more like an artifact or historical document of a political movement. But I remembered what the dean said at graduation last year. He said that even though it might seem hard to choose to be a starving artist in a recession, civilizations are remembered for their art not their war plans. Little sculptures excavated centuries later give us insight into what earlier civilizations valued. Some things may not have started out as "art," but they are how future people will come to know us. So in the end I think it's good that Emory Douglas was shown at the New Museum. That quote from the dean is really important to me.

AVR: You’re graduating next semester. What’s next?

MN: I don’t necessarily need a job in art, I just want to be able to be able to make art. As long as I can make my art after work, that’s all I need.