nathan flis art

Draftsman, painter, and printmaker with a passion for nature, curious objects, and well-arranged spaces; and a specialist in sixteenth and seventeenth-century European art and illustration

[nathanflis-art]

I just added a new piece of art to Saatchi Art! Composition with Three Trees

[nathanflis-art]

I just added a new piece of art to Saatchi Art! Abstract Seascape

[nathanflis-art]

I just added a new piece of art to Saatchi Art! Abstract Seascape

[nathanflis-art]

I just added a new piece of art to Saatchi Art! Abstract Seascape

[nathanflis-art]

View Nathan Flis’s Profile on Saatchi Art. Find art for sale at great prices from artists including Paintings, Photography, Sculpture, and Prints by Top Emerging Artists like Nathan Flis.

[nathanflis-art]

The great divide (another detail)

[nathanflis-art]

Rifts in the earth (detail)

[nathanflis-art]

Rifts in the earth

Begun November 2012; completed August 2013

India ink and graphite on Arches paper

 22 x 30 in.

Figures toil on the surface, either to harvest from or reconstruct these wounds in the earth, while others seek repose under trees that double as smoke stacks.

Inspired by Georg Philipp Telemann’s Changeante (early 18th century), an overture for strings characterized by unpredictable changes in melody. In the past, ‘changeante’ was often invoked with reference to changes in the humours or temperaments.

[nathanflis-art]

There are pleasures divine

Begun March; completed August 2013

India ink and graphite on Arches paper

22 x 30 in.

A parade of figures and birds pass underneath a tree-like structure, which is full of star-like shapes, the “seeds of matter” that give rise to life’s diversity. Below, the tree’s roots are interspersed with fish, frogs, oysters with pearls, and plant life.

Soul of the World! Inspir'd by thee [Cecilia or music],


The jarring Seeds of Matter did agree,


Thou didst the scatter'd Atoms bind,


Which, by thy Laws of true proportion join'd,


Made up of various Parts one perfect Harmony.

Title drawn from Henry Purcell’s music for the play, Timon of Athens (after 1678); and the lyrics quoted are from Purcell and Nicholas Brady’s Ode to St. Cecilia (1692)

[nathanflis-art]

There are pleasures divine (detail)

[nathanflis-art]

nathanflis.com

[nathanflis-art]

As steals the morn (detail)

nathanflis.com

[nathanflis-art]

As steals the morn

Completed September 2013

Pen and India ink on Arches paper

22 x 30 in.

The sun breaks over the clouds, which contain the dark materials, or stuff of the world’s creation. Instead of overtaking the darkness, a balance is struck between light and dark.

As steals the morn upon the night,

And melts the shades away:

So Truth does Fancy's charm dissolve,

And rising Reason puts to flight

The fumes that did the mind involve,

Restoring intellectual day.

Lyrics from George Frederick Handel’s ode L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato (1740), based on the poetry of John Milton, rearranged by Charles Jennens. L’Allegro is the joyful man, and il Penseroso is the contemplative/melancholy man in Milton’s original pastoral ode (1645); il Moderato is the happy medium added by Jennens to create a third movement for Handel’s music.

View other drawings from this series 

[nathanflis-art]

Rifts in the earth (detail)

About these drawings: FIGURAL LANDSCAPES

View other drawings on my website

[nathanflis-art]

The great divide (detail)

[nathanflis-art]

The great divide

Completed September 2013 

India ink and graphite on Arches paper

22 x 30 in.

A group of figures attempts to span a lake with ropes, a seemingly futile exercise. The lines crisscross, passing through the tree on the right, and are anchored by the roots of the tree on the left.

Initially inspired by a crescendo moment in the Kyrie of André Campra’s Requiem (c.1723), which is accompanied by the ‘tugging’ of strings.

View other drawings from this series on my website

[nathanflis-art]

Cortège (detail)