Nieto uses Photoshop to digitally deconstruct comic book pages down to basic shapes and forms and uses those shapes to compose his canvases. Once completed, he sends the digital images overseas to be transformed into oil paintings by assistants, carrying on a longstanding tradition in the history of art of utilizing a workshop. He then, personally, adds the finishing touches to his canvases in his studio. Ruben Nieto’s Shadow series expands upon his theme of deconstruction and reconfiguring, creating an intriguing new narrative from seemingly unrelated imagery. He no longer integrates comic book characters or figurative forms into his visual lexicon, but the explosive use of color, graphic use of black, and animated motion all refer back to Nieto’s creative catalyst, the comic book. 

Ruben Nieto has exhibited extensively throughout Texas as well as Switzerland, Germany, Spain, France, Canada, Mexico and the United States. He lives and works in Dallas, Texas and is currently a PhD candidate in Arts and Technology from the University of Texas at Dallas. Dr. Richard Brettell, professor of Art History at UTD, Impressionism scholar, and former McDermott Director of the Dallas Museum of Art, will be writing a forward to an accompanying brochure on the exhibition.