Barbara Nessim

Whether reflective, ironic, humorous or tragic, Barbara Nessim’s work is always insightful. Her unique artwork is defined by graceful lines, embedded in color, often depicting how people relate to each other, to themselves and to the world around them. Barbara Nessim is an internationally recognized fine artist, illustrator, and educator, and her distinct artistic style has placed her art on the magazine covers of Time, Rolling Stone, The New York Times, Germany's Frankfurter Allgemeine, and The Boston Globe. Nessim has created iconic ads and billboards for clients that include Ralph Lauren, Levis, and Doubleday, to name a few. The simplicity of her style contributes to its timeless quality, rendering her work as relevant today as when she began her career over 40 years ago. Nessim has moved seamlessly between the world of illustration and that of fine art, where she is in the permanent collections of The Smithsonian Institute, The Lunds Kunsthal in Sweden, and the Szepmuveszeti Museum in Budapest. She has also shown in The Kunst Museum in Dusseldorf, The Louvre, and countless other prestigious institutions. Her most recent solo exhibition was in 2003 at bitforms gallery in New York City's Chelsea district. In February 2007 Nessim participated in the group show “What F Word?” at the Cynthia Broan Gallery. She is scheduled to have two back-to-back solo shows at Sienna Gallery in Lenox, MA in June and July of 2007. Considered a pioneer in the use of digital media, Nessim experimented with computer techniques as early as 1980. She taught herself how to use the computer during a two year Artist's in Residency at the invitation of Time Inc's, then, TVIS (Time Video Information Services). TVIS was a precursor to the Internet. Her use of the computer as a medium has evolved along with the technology, and has manifested itself in many ways, including animation and interactive installations. Nessim has lectured widely on the subject of computer art and served as a Computer Arts Advisor for the New York Foundation for the Arts (NYFA) for a four-year term ending in 2003. Her groundbreaking efforts have garnered numerous grants and awards of excellence in the arts. Nessim has most recently integrated the use of the computer, along with traditional media, to create three large-scale digital paintings, commissioned for the lobby and common areas of Centria, a notable new residential building, located at 18 West 48th Street. The building sits opposite Rockefeller Plaza, in view of the renowned tree during the Christmas season. Inspired by a sense of place and time, Nessim playfully alludes to those themes in the work. An appreciation of technology is just one of the many values Nessim has instilled in her students over the years. She has taught in the MFA Computer Arts Program at the School of Visual Arts, and was an instructor in Visual Concepts at The Pratt Institute, which is where she earned her degree in 1960. Nessim was responsible for integrating the computer into the curriculum at Parsons School of Design during her time as Chairperson of Illustration from 1992-2004. She now devotes all her time to her work. Nessim recently moved her SoHo studio, after 20 years, to the West Village. She is currently working on many new projects, including further art commissions, a comprehensive book of her art, and a retrospective exhibition of her extensive body of work. For a more in depth view please visit www.barbaranessim.com and www.artnet.com