Nathan Durfee
words: Stacy Huggins
The Joy of Drifting. Anyone whose profession is in a creative field would likely agree: The creative process is sometimes best served by drifting, casually observing and absorbing the events, people, and places around them. Being constantly engaged, always being “on” is draining; sometimes we need to simply drift.
Nathan Durfee’s paintings posses a narrative quality that allows him the opportunity to voice larger issues that we face both individually and collectively. His newest body of work, presented in The Joy of Drifting, explores these concepts, as only Durfee can.
His signature illustrative, whimsical style is charming to the point of disarming; but if you spend some time really looking—looking deeper into the events and emotions within each painting—things are often quite a bit heavier than they seem at first glance. The beauty of his work is that Durfee leaves enough room for the viewer to weave their own narrative into the existing story line. Durfee’s work explores universal themes that will resonate in as many different ways as there are people on this planet.
Many years ago, I was standing in the second floor gallery of RLS’s former space on East Bay Street when Durfee shared a story about his work that has held my fascination ever since. He is a graduate of the prestigious Savannah College of Art and Design, where he studied Illustration.
In pursuit of his fine art career, Durfee developed his patchwork style of painting as a tool to portray objects and subjects that challenged him. As his painting skills have evolved, his patchwork tool has too
He can masterfully paint skin, sky, or clouds—some of the most challenging objects to render with oil and brush— and so now the
patchwork is free to be used throughout his 
scenes. The places he chooses to use this tool now convey special meaning, elevating those particular objects as he draws attention to them through detail, light, and color.
Durfee’s characters and paintings have an incredible ability to capture the hearts and inspire ardent devotion from his fans. Collectors can’t seem to get enough, always finding more reasons to add new work to their collections, as Durfee’s own narrative evolves, weaving in and out of the dark and the light places of life. Pandas, penguins, Sasha, Ethan, cats, canaries, cardinals, Diana, Bartholomew, pigs, and octopi…the cast of characters is endless and endearing, simultaneously representing the artist and every man, the individual and the universal.
Nathan Durfee
The Joy of Drifting
October 2 – 30, 2015
Robert Lange Studios
2 Queen Street, Charleston
843.805.8052
robertlangestudios.com
@nathandurfee
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