About the artist

Nate Hester explores the psychopolitical dynamics of the modern home through a practice rooted in personal histories and family systems theory. To that end, Hester channels a visual language that blends black-and-white, streetstyle, pop-punk collage and delicate, figurative rendering. His work evokes the fragmented realities of domestic life while seeking a path toward reintegration - playful, wounded, brave.

In an age of digital chaos and creeping authoritarianism, Hester poses a deceptively simple question: Can we all live together?

His compositions, thus, teem with toys, flowers, gargoyle avatars, human figures, found objects and slang phrases from mainstream culture that dance in nearly comprehensible arrangements. The result is an alternate vision of the hearth - a surreal ecosystem where everything belongs to everything. These dreamlike, often happily haunted tableaux, extend into performance, installation, animation, robotic puppetry, ceramicware and fiber art.

Hester has participated in international residencies at Studio Kura (Fukoka, Japan), Chateau Orquevaux (Chaumont, France), Kolaj Institute (New Orleans LA), Residency Unlimited (Brooklyn NY), and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts (Amherst VA). His work has been shown at Satellite New York, MARFA Invitational, the Brown Gallery at Duke University, Galeria Azur (Miami FL), Cabada Contemporary (Washington DC), Knowhere (Martha’s Vineyard) and Brassworks (Portland OR) and is held in the permanent collections of the Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University and the New York Public Library. 

When not building shamanic worlds, Hester enjoys fresh fruit pies around a campfire and the occasional spa day at a luxury hotel.