Daydreamland
A solo exhibition by Nate Woodard
May 4th to June 18th, 2022
“Appletown is a place I created in my mind… a neighborhood full of peace… a place where I could go and feel safe” says artist Nate Woodard. In his first solo exhibition, Daydreamland, Woodard shares his internal dreamworld with us. Little houses with shutters and patio furniture, streets and backyards, these make up the miniature town that Woodard has created using cardboard, paper, toothpicks, glue and acrylic paint. Woodard’s Appletown demonstrates his attention to detail with the lovingly crafted facades and landscaping elements. A few of the houses are displayed without a roof so the viewer can peer inside to see the interior. “I be daydreaming about neighborhoods and houses… daydreaming about people having block parties and gatherings and the nice grass and the way the house is set up… I always was inspired from the suburbs in the state of Illinois and some of the houses here too… The way the apartment buildings are set up. The bushes, the trees… I get inspired looking at that.”
If the miniature town of Appletown is the setting, then the accompanying graphite and acrylic portraits of everyday people would be the cast. Woodard likes to “…invent adventures in my own reality and creating the people of the town… create people in my mind and make stories about them. Like a soap opera or something.”
Woodard uses visual images to say what can be hard to communicate with language. Often stating that says he feels like an outsider or observer, Woodard says he feels like “I'm watching a movie”. He fills his work with people, families, houses, couples, saying “sometimes I’m making people up in my head and admiring them”. His portrait work often captures the subject in an emotional state or moment of reflection. He says “…it helps me communicate better, I can communicate better when I do art, when I’m emotional about stuff.” Woodard’s characters represent the artists’ own emotions. Appletown is an extension of his hopes, dreams, desires, and occasionally present experiences in a physical world created gradually by his own hand over years.
While seemingly engrossed in the minutia of everyday life, Woodard also contemplates the greater existential picture. His portrayal of the small, present moments of people are juxtaposed with celestial beings. Spirituality also plays an important role in Woodard’s world. He said Appletown is a town of freedom, a friendly place to be. He is “basically creating my own reality and thinking about different dimensions…”. “It’s being authentic- someone very authentic. With no boundaries- like Appletown has no boundaries, no rules. A place where you are free and stuff. It’s just like a heaven- no boundaries, just free will- you’re just free.”
About the Artist
Nate Woodard (b. 1980) is a multi-media artist based in the Twin Cities. Mostly self-taught, Woodard has been drawing and creating artwork all his life. His work reflects his experience as a person of color moving through this world. Many of his pieces have themes of spirituality, independence, and the struggles of everyday life. Recent exhibitions include Entrance at the Institute on Community Integration (U of M), Creature Comforts at Fresh Eye Gallery, So Free and Suburbia at Banfill Locke Center for the Arts, and Speculative Futures, Present Imaginations at the Catherine G. Murphy Gallery (online), and C4W:2021 Elemental at Gamut Gallery.