Artist Nathaniel Meyer
Nathaniel Meyer is a painter whose work reimagines the landscape as a space of memory, longing, and myth. Grounded in plein air observation yet composed entirely from recollection, his paintings inhabit the threshold between realism and invention.
Meyer’s work has been exhibited nationally, including solo presentations at the Spring/Break Art Show in New York and Los Angeles, and was featured in New American Paintings. He is the recipient of the Blanche E. Colman Award and lives and works in Cumberland, Maine.
He received his BFA from Boston University in Boston, Massachusetts and his MFA from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
"Landscape painting, at its heart, is the embodiment of an idealized, Romantic notion of nature that only exists in our minds. In my work, I create carefully constructed fictions, utopian worlds shaped by memory and emotion rather than direct observation. Though rooted in my plein air practice, My studio paintings are done entirely from memory, relying on impressions rather than reality. Formally, my practice engages with the stylized precision of Golden Age illustration, the economy of form and flattened spatial hierarchies of early video game graphics, and the compositional drama and repoussoir of comic book splash pages. A product of our current age of environmental uncertainty, as well as my own nostalgia for my childhood spent on the coast of Maine (another idealized fantasy), these paintings depict unattainable utopias, evoking the beauty of what remains forever just out of reach."
Tell us a little about yourself (where you are from) and your background in the arts.
I grew up splitting my time between a houseboat in Florida, and a back-to-the-lander A Frame in Downeast Maine. (I didn't have normal bathroom facilities until I was in high school). My dad was a painter- a damn good one, too. Growing up, we were surrounded by painting. It felt like the most natural thing in the world, though often I was approached by kids at school who would ask, "Is it true you have naked pictures of your mom up on your walls at home?!".
I went to art school right after high school and went to grad school a little later, when I was in my late 30s. My brother is also a painter- he, our dad, and I would have tremendous arguments and incredibly grandiose trash talk about our respective paintings- it was a real raucous affair. I think people are taken aback a little. I think that kind of passionate, visceral engagement is lacking in the more genteel discourse that one finds in museums and galleries. I try to bring it back whenever I can.
What kind of work are you currently making?
Large, narrative landscapes- I'm just gearing up for a show at Page Gallery in Camden, Maine in Summer '27, and I'm getting my plans together. This is one of my favorite parts of the process. It feels like there's all the time in the world (though I know it's an illusion- deadlines come all too quickly!).
What is a day like in the studio for you?
I wake up early, around 6 or 7, walk my dogs, make coffee, and I'm in the studio by 7:30ish. I usually work until 3ish. Though if I'm under deadline, I often work 12 hour days, but I try to avoid that, as I've run into repetitive stress injuries from that kind of grind before. I find I get my best work done in the early morning- I get what I call "stupidfingers" after I've been working on a painting for more than 4 hours or so. In order to extend that good, focused time in the studio, usually I set a timer and work on a panting for 2 hours, then hop to the next one. I keep my phone in a dock on the other side of the room, as I am susceptible to its focus-killing charms.
What are you looking at right now and/or reading?
I'm currently reading a biography of N.C. Wyeth by David Michaelis. N.C. is a painterly hero of mine. I can't get enough of those Golden Age Illustrators. They were so adept at creating worlds that just screamed adventure and mystery.
Virtuosic skill that they were shy about showing off, with wildly dynamic compositions. N.C. was the best of them.
Where can we find more of your work? (ex. website/insta/gallery/upcoming shows)
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nathaniel_meyer/
I have work at Moss Gallery in Falmouth, Maine, Page Gallery in Camden, Maine, and On-Center Gallery in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
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