Category: Art Stories

The ‘Please Take Photos’ sign is an iconic staple in Ringelstetter’s booth, and it seems to be perceived differently by everyone. It’s uncommon in the art circuit for artists to allow photos of their work to be taken out of the fear of plagiarism, but Ringelstetter has a different take on that idea. 

Coming from a small town upbringing, Ringelstetter is beyond flattered to know that people want to help him share his work with the world, and he believes that with the influence of social media, allowing patrons to photograph his work only helps his career. 

Darienne Keniece

In the projects to come it is likely that we’ll being seeing a lot of 11:11’s in Ringelstetter’s work, but what is the reasoning for this? Some of you may or may not be familiar with synchronicities, but to put it simply synchronicities are little messages from the Universe. Ringelstetter has been almost haunted by the 11:11 synchronicity specifically since his Florida tour in February 2020. 11:11 has been a reaffirmation from the Universe to Nick, signifying that he is in alignment with his soul’s true purpose and to continue forward on his present path. This rings true for the rest of us as well. If you’re been witness to this synchronicity, keep going; the Universe is in full support of your endeavor.  

Darienne Keniece

 

In 2014 Ringelstetter got his first magazine publication in Issue 57 of Rosebud Magazine. He was approached by the magazine because they found his style and mission relatable and they knew that a feature on him would be a great fit for their publication. This article allows us to see into Ringelstetter’s mind during the early stages of the Forbidden Effect, as well as a look into his goals and his journey. 

Darienne Keniece

Ringelstetter has been asked many times why he’s chosen to involve himself in the school system with the presentations he’s been doing while on tour and of course, at home. A lot of his motivation comes from his own experiences growing up in the public school system where he was often made to believe that he was unintelligent because he didn’t fit into the box that they were presenting him with. 

Looking back at his life, Ringelstetter realized that middle school was probably the most detrimental time to receive the message that he’s been sharing throughout his tour, which is that anyone can do anything. He wants kids of all ages to know that you can follow your passions and still be successful because it isn’t as unheard of as they may think.

Ringelstetter firmly believes that the next generation will be the ones to finally turn the world on its nose, and he wants to do his part to make sure that creatives of all types feel that they have a place and a purpose, both now and in the future to come.

Darienne Keniece

Local Spring Green, Wisconsin artist Joni Graves makes custom book covers and brought up the idea of creating sketchbooks with Ringelstetter’s art on the covers. Each one is designed by Ringelstetter, and then handmade by Graves as Atomic7 Studios is about quality over quantity. The sketchbooks are one the pricey side, but Ringelstetter has said he would be more than happy to add a personal sketch to any book that crosses his path.

Darienne Keniece

If you’re familiar with Ringelstetter’s work you may have seen the tag “TANK33” in some of his pieces. In fact, it’s stamped on every piece from this line of work, which is three-dimensional in three different ways, and represents the different planes of life; the physical, mental, and spiritual/energetic. 

“Tank” is what Ringelstetter considers to be somewhat of an otherworldly alter ego. For years Tank has been showing Ringelstetter visions, and has inspired every piece of his work. Tank introduced the “Forbidden Effect” via a lucid dream, and continued to leave clues for Ringelstetter along the journey of the “Forbidden Zone’s” creation. For instance, the room it was created in had a name carved above the door, “Ms. Tank”.

Whether you consider “Tank” to be a muse or a fever dream, without this influence Ringelstetter wouldn’t be where he is today. For years Tank has been telling our artist to hustle until he reached 33 years of age, at that point his “mission” would be completed. Now at the age of 34, Ringelstetter feels he no longer has to be “Nick Ringelstetter, the Painter” but instead he can be whoever he wants to be and purse whatever he feels is right. 

Darienne Keniece

If you’re a fan of Nick Ringelstetter’s artwork then you’re bound to have seen his famous stop signs either in person or somewhere within the vast web of the Internet. This line seems to draw in a crowd all on its own, being that it is an unusual medium for artwork of any kind. If you’ve ever wondered what inspired Nick to take a common symbol and turn it into a fascinating wall hanging, buckle up, because you’re about to find out.

As a child, he had a unique leather jacket. With green leather sleeves, a black leather body, and a red stop sign on the back, this jacket was a favorite item of our artist’s. From a young age, stop signs were always intriguing to Nick, and that grew with him. He has said that it was never about the stop itself, but rather the aesthetic and shape of the signs that he’s always found pleasing.

But how did he go from enjoying this common road sign to placing his artwork on them? Well, during Nick’s high school years he was known to have a party or two on the family land out in the middle of nowhere. During one of these soirées, a friend of his showed up out of the blue, flying up the drive way and immediately backing up to the barn. When Nick came over to investigate, he realized that the bed of his friend’s truck was filled with traffic signs. Of course, due to the process of acquiring these signs, his friend couldn’t keep them, so they needed a home. They took the signs and stored them in the barn where they sat for years until the Ringelstetter’s sold the property.

When time came to clean out the barn, Nick’s dad had asked him what they should do with all of the signs. At this time, it was one of Nick’s first years of painting, and as he considered the possibilities he realized that he could paint the stop signs. What started out as a fun experiment quickly gained traction and turned into a popular product. People began offering money to our artist for these pieces, and at the time this was an amazing feat, as painting was still a hobby and not yet a fulltime career.

The stop signs became a niche for Ringelstetter, not unlike the skateboards he also paints. He has said that growing sick of creating on square canvases and exploring new mediums was not only vital to his career, but also important to his process as an artist. Switching things up and creating something new and different is what he feels keeps his art fresh and intriguing. And from a business standpoint, the marketing here is rather genius. If you see even one of these customized stop signs, it’s likely to nest in your brain, only to emerge when you find yourself pressing your vehicle to a halt for a brief pause, and there your mind will take you back to a time when your reality was bent in a new direction.

Fascinating as this line of art may be, it certainly was not the easiest thing to create. Painting on a stop sign may not seem like the most difficult of projects, but recreating the prints is a different beast of its own. When the stop signs were first created, metal printing didn’t exist. Nick played with the idea of creating these on octagon canvases, but it just didn’t feel right. To him, a stop sign had to be an actual stop sign.

It wasn’t until about four years later that a coworker at Nick’s factory job brought in some stuff printed on metal and made Nick’s day. He proceeded to do the prints for a while, but as one could imagine printing on aluminum is an expensive business venture. So while Nick was pursing his career as a fulltime artist he had to pull the Stop Sign line for a while in order to cut costs. But as Hostess discovered when they removed Twinkies from their product line, Nick too discovered that once you take away an option, people begin to crave that which they can no longer have.

When the artist was able to reintroduce this line again, people were ecstatic and the product began to fly off of the shelves. Lucky are those who jumped in line to purchase because all of Ringelstetter’s art is limited edition, and there may come a day when the stop signs disappear again, most likely creating space for a new, unheard of medium.

Darienne Keniece

2019 was a life-changing year for Ringelstetter that began in Key West, Florida. Ringelstetter had applied for the show knowing that his father had never been to Key West and that it would be a wonderful opportunity to show him around. Despite some bumps in the Key West show, they both had a fantastic time. 

Ringelstetter went on to experience some financial difficulties as the year progressed and he found himself struggling to get ahead. But in life, nothing is permanent, and it wasn’t long until he was able to realign his goals and tap into his determination. He dyed his hair and allowed his mental state to shift into overdrive, kicking off his “Pink Hair Magic Tour” by winning an award at a show in Cedar Key, Florida. From there he went on to crush the numerous shows that followed and straighten out his finances. It seemed that the year was starting to look up. 

Throughout the summer of 2019, Ringelstetter began to witness the power of manifestation in action. Unfortunately with the state of the northern weather he didn’t get much time to enjoy his usual summer hobbies, but he was able to fill his time through his involvement with Design for a Difference while the foundation simultaneously reminded Ringelstetter of his personal goals. 

It started to sink in throughout the year that Ringelstetter was finally achieving his dreams. He went from doodling in the back of the classroom to a world-renowned artist, locked into every major show in the country he had ever wanted to be in. But he began to realize that he would be more than happy to never do another street show again. He wants to break into the science and neurology side of art and unlock the next level of his potential.

The Universe must have felt Ringelstetter’s drive to level up because it decided to send in a few curve balls. Shortly before the Fall Art Tour of Wisconsin, Ringelstetter returned home to get back to the grind and get everything ready to set up for the tour. But Mother Nature had other plans and she hit Atomic7 with a flood that wiped out the majority of the studio equipment and set back Ringelstetter’s plans to build out his van. Two months of production were lost, and all of Ringelstetter’s energy was spent reconstructing his studio and revamping his gallery so that it would be ready in time for the tour. The never-ending days and late nights paid off though, all of the patrons were happy for Ringelstetter’s hard work.

Going into 2020, Ringelstetter is striving for a change of pace. He’s teaching at schools, and following his passion to help inspire the younger generation and keep art alive. He’s been accepted into one of the biggest shows in the country, Coconut Grove, and plans to change his subject matter in order to take the leap into the next evolution of himself as an artist. Ringelstetter still plans on participating in street shows, but only the ones that he truly enjoys while he does what he can to break into in door shows and break through the barriers of the art world. 

Darienne Keniece

While Ringelstetter was at a show in Minneapolis, a family visited his booth with an unexpected opportunity. They loved the work they saw and went on to explain that their daughter, Tara Gupta, was an aspiring author. A few conversations eventually led to a collaboration between author and artist and ‘Bot the Space Tot: An Intergalactic Roller Coaster’ was created and published on November 13, 2011. Only a handful of copies were sold, but Ringelstetter still has the younger generation compliment him on his participation, as it was their favorite children’s book.

Darienne Keniece

In late 2009, Ringelstetter was approached by the Spring Green Area Arts Coalition with an offer to join their board as a representative of the youth artists in the community. Ringelstetter graciously accepted, but remained the quiet kid he had always been for the first couple of years he spent on the board, focusing his efforts on the builds and set ups of the stages for the events. As he began to get more comfortable he started taking on more responsibility until he eventually found himself handling the graphics for the coalition’s events.  

However, supporting the local arts community wasn’t the only thing Ringelstetter gained from the experience. He also got the chance to learn how to become a professional artist, thanks to the great company he found himself surrounded by during his time with the coalition. Unfortunately, this past year he had to drop off of the board in order to pursue his own career with laser focus, but he loved every second of being on the board and he knows that it was a key part of his evolution. 

Darienne Keniece