Autumn Nelson paints the terrain of self love, lust, desire, rage, and secrets, using personal experience as the vehicle through which viewers might find their own reflection. Working primarily through figuration and self portraiture, Nelson builds work that is simultaneously intimate and universal, crossing genders, sexualities, and races without losing the specificity of what makes each piece personal. Neurodivergence, bipolar experience, and an acute awareness of the push and pull between stability and chaos all find their way into the work, not as confession but as visual language. What follows is a conversation about relationships, resilience, and the hunger that brought Nelson back to painting after a six month break that was supposed to be permanent.

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Can you pinpoint a single moment in your life when you realized art was not just a passion but your purpose?

I took a break from the art world last year, it was a 6 month break. The art world broke my heart. I was over it and I had to move back home, my studio was packed in storage the next state over. And I thought I was done, but I had friends pushing me to get back to it and I was still very much caught up in my emotions. But after a while I started to realize I had this hunger to be back in the place I once was. I missed painting and creating. I thought about truly giving up showing and the artist talks about the future studio mates I’ll have. I set up a home studio that same month and I’ve been here ever since. I realized I could run from my practice but it would just snake it way back into me in other ways.

How important is it for viewers to understand the intended message of yourIf you could  communicate just one core message through your entire body of work, what would it be?

I’m learning now that my work is about relationships, self love is a big part of the relationship depicted and I know that it comes off sapphic to quit a few viewers. But the reason I use myself in my work is for the viewer to use that vehicle to be able to put themselves in that situation. The sologamist relationships depicted are a visual identical to sapphic work and I embrace it. What I do not embrace is the over sexualization of my work. On the flip my toxic relationships depicted, I’ve personally seen viewers see themselves in those works and the stories I’ve heard.  

My work explores relationships , we’re always chasing self love but it’s a long journey and it is so easier to fall into pot holes of lust and desire. Knowing that doesn’t take away from the self journey. I hope my viewer can see themselves in the race. 

How do you measure the impact of your work—by its reception, its personal meaning, or  something else?How has your artistic style transformed over the years? Are there specific influences, experiments, or moments that marked a turning point?

I’m creating work for myself first but if I created a body of work that was so stiff and guarded, my viewers couldn’t see themselves in the work. Or they just get stuck in the sexual aspect or beauty of an otherwise serious piece. I know I didn’t do my job correctly. I’ve learned that my art is a language that isn’t successful if only I can speak it. But there are ways to explore other dialects of what I’m saying. Right now I’m starting to introduce crochet using veils and curtains. And metal embossing with text playing around with the idea of even the artist isn’t a reliable narrator and has secrets. The work is still in its early stage but I’m excited . 

Do you feel a personal connection to your subject matter is essential? How has this connection shaped your work? 

I don’t believe in just making pretty pictures, I know my work is beautiful but all of it has meaning to me, sometimes I have to sit with pieces a little longer to figure them out. If you have no connection to the work. The work is dead just rotting on a slab of canvas, you become this printer just pushing out dead work. I fear the dead, I have no passion or wish to paint like that. 

Do you believe the ‘mad artist’ stereotype still holds weight, or is creativity more grounded than we think?

I’m mentally ill. I know a few neurodivergent artists, hell the teacher I’ve had was mentally ill. I think there's a reason people who have different ways of thinking and seeing the world also have a certain label to them. I’m not saying all artists have something going on upstairs but for me. I know my illness definitely plays a role in my work, some more visually obvious than others. My bipolar could definitely be argued to be displayed in my double self images and how I interact with lust. This push and pull from lustful manic and stability of self love is becoming more apparent to me. But I think that’s more of an acceptable version of the crazy artist. Compared to the ADHD version of me that gets bored of painting fast and works spastically and strange studio hours. I think that's the side of me and my illness that gets the worst wrap when comparing me to that crazy artist character type.

Do academic institutions still play a vital role in shaping artists today, or has self-taught creativity disrupted this tradition?

I was taught academically through later years of grade school and undergrad, the techniques I’ve learned and was later pushed to see my work moving through concepts and using unexpected ways to tell my story. And I do believe that the foundation is so important, you have to know how to speak the language of your work.  

 

After undergrad I was fully in the thick of the Atlanta art world trying to figure out which way was up, after a few years with a studio and a residency I learned the language of collectors and curators. All that being said I am looking into grad school to put the whole picture together in a curated space. 

Is art created for the artist, the audience, or somewhere in between?

My work is definitely a way for me to get out messages I need to explore for my own psyche, but I’m a world builder. I know my work is universal; it crosses genders, sexualities and races. I’m always aware of how everything will be perceived and in the same breath I don’t. I know my voice is strong enough to draw their interest. I don’t know exactly which cord that will ignite with certain audience members, I just know it will.

List five core themes or messages you aim to convey through your art.

The five core themes are my work are love , lust, desire, rage, secrets

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What stays with you after this conversation with Autumn Nelson is the frankness. The art world broke something, and Nelson left, packed the studio into storage, and genuinely considered walking away. What came back instead was hunger, and with it a clearer sense of purpose than before. The work that has followed is expansive and still evolving, now incorporating crochet, veils, curtains, and metal embossing with text, all circling the same core truth: that art is a language, and a language only works if others can speak it too. Nelson builds worlds that are personal enough to be honest and open enough to hold anyone willing to see themselves in the race toward self love.