Meet NANO Rubio | Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with NANO Rubio and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi NANO, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Art making is pretty much the only skill I have. That being said, exploring all aspects of what art can be is natural behavior of mine and most artists, so sometimes it involves doing some weird shit in the studio. From this, some imagery and concepts start to marry and the outcome from taking risks can lead to a place that’s very close to creating original work.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
Recently I was going through my drawings and student examples, and I found all of my own artwork and drawings that I’ve accumulated. It was all there and it reminded me of how many projects I’ve worked on. I kept everything from tracing paper concepts, written ideas, sketchpads, posters, and early drawings from when I was a child. I also found the first piece of art that was exhibited at a library when I was 4 or 5 years old, and it’s in crayon of fighter jets screaming across an mountain landscape. I always thought jets were cool as a child, but seeing this work as an adult I’m reminded of ever-present patriotism and glorification of war. I think I always make work that symbolizes the world. I use references that refer to the internet, and I create digital landscapes that are cautionary tales about editing reality.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I would tell them to stay home and create art.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
My art story wouldn’t exist without my wife Theresa, my twins Nico and Vincent, my Mom, Dad, two sisters, and extended family who have always supported my efforts. Shoutout to them with love. Shoutout to Max Presneill and everyone I have met working with the Torrance Art Museum. Shout out to David Koeth for always teaching and leading by example. I also want to give a shoutout to all my students who continue to inspire me. Shoutout to Yengiang Nguyen a former student and now artist and collaborator with Bianca Lago. All of my fellow classmates at Claremont Graduate University have all inspired me in some way, so big shoutout to all of those magical people, Erica Stallones, Liz Nurenberg, Justin Bower, Kim Alexander, Sookyung Bae, Damariz Rivera. Shoutout to Adam Mason. Shoutout to Matt Gardocki. Shoutout to Carmine Iannaccone for defending the work. Shoutout to George Lawson. Shoutout to Rema Ghuloum. Shoutout to Carlson Hatton. Shoutout to the Knight brothers, Davin and Mike. Shoutout to Ian Pines. Shoutout to Christopher Kuhn. Shoutout to Sam Combellick. Shoutout to Jake Fowler. Shoutout to Ana Rodriguez. Shoutout to a huge early supporter of my work Grant Vetter. Shout out to Cole Jupiter James. And last lastly I would like to give a big shout out to James Panozzo at LaunchLA for all the work his organization does to support the arts.

Website: https://www.artsy.net/artist/nano-rubio

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nanorubio_art

Image Credits
Black and White Photos courtesy of Sookyung Bae.