Miami Living Magazine

Danica Patrick

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In 2009, Nelson's career really took of f. It was the 70th anniversary of The Wizard of Oz, and Warner Brothers invited him to be one of a handful of artists to create art for the momentous occasion. [One of the producers was a collector of Nelson's work.] Being that The Wizard of Oz is one of Nelson's favorite movies, he jumped at the chance. Each artist was asked to create one piece of art that would tour the world. However, Warner Brothers loved Nelson's piece so much that they asked him to create as many pieces as he wanted to. "I ended up doing around 6 or 7 pieces for them. It got me to a point where people were talking about me. And the one piece I did, Ditching Dorothy from my satire series, actually made it to a stamp." This same year, the King of Pop Art met the King of Pop, who purchased three pieces from him. "It was sad because I had met Michael Jackson in May of 2009, and then I went over to his house to deliver the artwork around June 15th, two weeks before he passed away. Michael loved my work and he wanted to come over to the studio. He wanted to buy my Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band because he owned The Beatles library. Between The Wizard of Oz stuff and the whole Michael Jackson scenario —which is crazy to say the least— it kinda put me on the map." Recently, Nelson completed and sold a massive 24-donut sculpture. "I'm always trying to just think outside the box. When you're a creative individual, after awhile, you just want to keep expanding and expanding and pushing and pushing." He would like to create more sculptures, and just created some large clipboards. "That's kind of experimental… Sometimes I will take something that's very mundane that people will never look at and be inspired to make that into something, like a matchbook. I'm always looking for the next idea." To spark his creativity, Nelson relies on music and scent. "I'll put on a candle and music to get me going. Lately, I've been listening to more books. My three loves: I love art, I love science, and I love music. So while I'm creating, I'll listen to Brian Greene's The Elegant Universe. I'm always trying to reach a high level of consciousness." He adds that he's not a drinker and doesn't do drugs. His latest series is called, My Glamorous Life. "It's about taking the yacht, going to the South of France, and flying on a really expensive G5. There are a lot of people that want to live that lifestyle and they'll resonate with my art because they want to hang it up and show it off. It's a series that really has hit home with a lot of people." He is also working on a black and white sketch series to show his process: where it starts, what the middle looks like, and the final product. "I feel that there's still a market for people that [think], OK, that's great. I might not be able to afford the finished product or the sketch, but let me see what he did prior to that. I'm toying with that." While Nelson's large-scale artwork sells for thousands and thousands of dollars, he wants everyone to be able to enjoy it. "I have small to medium-sized prints that the average John Doe can afford, and then I have original pieces and I have in-between stuff, like my sketches 'cause I feel that art isn't just for the elite. You want to make it for everybody and so with that said, you have to have different price points. And the great thing about that is that you can actually make a pretty good living by selling, not just the original, but all of these prints, like I have on my website. I'm just blessed to really be doing what I'm doing. And it was never about the money, it was always about loving what I do." -Does your home have a lot of your art in it? "Yeah, but not because I'm egotistical — I have it up just so I can see what it would

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