The Arts & Business Council, Blackbird Media, and F&M Bank have teamed up to present the Artist of the Week on The Nashville Sign. This week’s featured artist is Nick Paladino III!
Nick Paladino III wears many hats: director, producer, editor, photographer, 3D artist, graphic designer, and drone pilot. He uses these skills to bend, warp, blend and stitch stacks of his photos to create what he calls his ultra hi-res Planet images.
“If I can do one thing with my work, it would be to show people that ‘different is beautiful.’ I try to make my images as unique as the moment they were taken. I take a landscape and warp it into a new perspective.”
Nick was born and raised in Nashville. He’s been in film and TV production for about 20 years, working his way up from PA to executive producer. He currently works in marketing, though he is working hard to be able to create art full time, and develop a city-wide project.
He started experimenting with creating these images during COVID-19 quarantine, when his work in marketing and film and TV production were on hold. He discovered his workflow meant that his resolution and size were quadruple of what he had seen produced elsewhere. He continues to create every piece painstakingly by hand so as to retain every bit of fidelity. Assembled from stacks of original photographs without the use of sky replacement or neural filters, the initial Planets are 14 feet square. He then carefully scales each piece down for print, making sure to retain the detail and fidelity of the raw images.
“Nothing would make me happier than to repay my hometown by creating artwork that makes people smile when they see it in town. It still blows my mind every time I sell a print because art is not work for me…it’s my center.”
To learn more about Nick Paladino III and his work, visit https://ispynickoli.com
Want to be featured on The Nashville Sign? Visual artists working in any medium, who are members* of the Arts & Business Council at the Basic Level ($30 annually) or above, are eligible to apply for Artist of the Week on The Nashville Sign.
*Those unable to become members due to financial barriers can be granted a waiver. Contact us at [email protected] to be confidentially considered for a waiver.