Do artists wear heavy duty jackets in the studio?
Do artists wear heavy duty jackets in the studio? One would assume that they wouldn’t, but when you’re sitting beside muralist Nils Westergard and you hear about his trips out of the U.S to Amsterdam, or up north to Maine, or down south to Austin or Miami, his jacket is one you would gift to someone else only because its character reflects his experience– epically covered in paint and almost ripped to shreds (in a good way).
But what further adds character to this calm guy who paints out-of-this world portraits and colossal murals around our historical city is what he’s been doing only in the past year.
Since being part of Richmond Mural Project in 2015, Westergard, whose technique displays refined hyperrealism integrated with dripping minimalism, has him traveling all over the U.S and in Europe as well.
And though many muralists from the RMP were internationals who traveled to us, Westergard, who holds more than a dozen significant murals in our city, also enjoys living the grit life in our town as well by working from his room in the Museum District.
As a graduate from the Virginia Commonwealth University’s film program, Westergard seems to find his inspiration from film and other mediums of art that projects unto his murals which are primarily black and white with its own star. Whether it’s a beautiful young woman with a gaunt look on her face, or an image taken right out of the climax scene of a work that is floating somewhere in the mind of the muralist, Westergard indubitably re-creates his own inspiration in an almost revolutionary way.
You’ve seen them, these mural stars that hold Westergard’s name and paint strokes all over Richmond. The Lombardy and Floyd piece that went up this past summer, “Within”, or my personal favorite, “Icarus Fallen”, not because of the existential reference, but because it exemplifies so much emotion from the simplicity of its home which is behind 821 Cafe off of Cary st. Nonetheless, there is a handful of Westergard pieces dripped around RVA for us to admire.
While living in the Richmond, the lifestyle here definitely influences how Westergard chooses his color schemes as well for his murals that display minimal colors like black, grey, and white with some pops of color from time to time.
“It is possible to paint a mural for less than you’d expect. I can get a good bucket of paint, a gallon of white, a gallon of black and can make it go a long way,” Westergard said. “And with stencils which are always something I enjoy working on– it’s really labor intensive work but I can make hundreds of pieces for as little as six bucks. It all depends on what you use.”
Westergard’s latest piece titled “The James in a Damselfly” is an intricately cut stencil piece of a dragonfly that emulates the map of Richmond on its right wing. The stencil is laid upon spraypaint on a custom wooden cut panel. The piece was inspired by Westergard’s past works:
“I’ve been doing a lot of map works. I did one of Amsterdam when I found a leaf in Amsterdam, and the leaf was eroded except for its cell structure. I kept it in a box forever until I scanned it in and the map of Amsterdam is very concentric circles it’s all these canals in this ring,” Westergard said. “So, I put the two together with Richmond and the James. You know, going tubing on the James in the summer and the dragonflies would land on you–it connected for me.”
Westergard plans to donate his “Damselfly” piece to the Visual Arts Center of Richmond for its annual Collector’s Night event. The event draws in dozens of collectors all over VA to buy auctioned pieces that subsequently helps fund the VisArts facility and its programs.
And though Westergard is traveling all over and gaining worldwide recognition, it’s great to see that he and other artists are putting their time into pieces that will allow others to have not exactly the same, but all in all an experience that will never make you want to leave the grid in the river city.
