In 2016 while Ringelstetter was on tour in St. Charles, Illinois he was approached by Ron Onesti. Ringelstetter wasn’t sure of this man’s significance at the time, but learned soon enough that he was the guy in the area. He purchased a print and was on his way, or so Ringelstetter thought. Towards the end of the show, Ron came back with two brand new, unopened Dean Guitars and asked Ringelstetter for a custom paint job on both of them. A year later, Ringelstetter was asked to come back to the St. Charles show where he set up close to the Arcada, Onesti’s Rock venue. He delivered the guitars to a happy customer, and learned that they would be on display in the Arcada for all of the patrons to see.
When Ringelstetter was a representative for Phenom Skateboards after transitioning from Proxima Skateboards, he got the chance to be a part of their Skateboard competition. Shortly before this, Ringelstetter had purchased a few brick patterned wall panels to paint on. When he heard about the upcoming competition in Delavan, WI, he offered to bring them along and set up a graffiti wall at the event.
When Ringelstetter arrived he was disheartened to find that it was raining, but it wasn’t long before one of the town’s board members came up with a solution by recommending he set up under the pavilion. The wall ended up fitting perfectly under the shelter, but it took a little while for the people to get started. It seemed that the kids weren’t sure if they were really allowed to paint at first, but once a few got started the crowd rushed over to join in on the action.
It was a few years later before the graffiti wall came out to entertain the public again, but every time it did it was a hit. It wasn’t until the Fall Art Tour in 2019 that the graffiti wall transformed into the immersive graffiti park, adding an extra hook to Ringelstetter’s stop on the tour. This is one of his favorite additions as he enjoys watching people get creative. He plans to continue using the graffiti wall in hopes of sparking the creativity in many along his travels and bringing more art into the world.
In the early days of Ringelstetter’s art shows, he found himself in the position to hold two shows on the same day in two different states. He pulled this off with the help of his cousin Matt Harsha who ran a show in St. Louis while Ringelstetter ran his booth at the Action in Jackson carnival in Jacksonville, Wisconsin with his brother. The St. Louis show took place at a comi-con that caught the attention of a big name star, Tony Todd, who is best known for his role in the film “Candy Man”. Todd purchased one of Ringelstetter’s pieces and posed happily for a picture, as this was Ringelstetter’s first celebrity customer.
Ringelstetter left on his 2018 art tour one week after finishing the “Forbidden Zone” project. The plan was to live on the road for ten months and participate in thirty-six street art shows. The goal was to see how far Ringelstetter could push himself; mind, body, and spirit because he wanted to know what it would be like.
This tour proved to be the most difficult task Ringelstetter has ever signed himself up for. It was as though something in the stars was conspiring to make everything much harder than it needed to be. From the weather to the venues, there was a hitch in every step.
While this tour was downright treacherous in some aspects, it did have its positives. For a portion of the Florida tour, Ringelstetter rented out a living space in the Monster Factory. As it turns out, he was their last “rent-ee”, but it is one of his favorite places in the world. Vince Pompei, owner of the factory, became a fast favorite of Ringelstetter’s, as he views him as “innovative”, “minimalistic”, and the “Einstein of our time”. After living there for four months, Ringelstetter found it easy to see why Pompei liked it there. The park nearby was a chaotic place as it was a bit of a hotspot for drug culture. There was always something going down there, so the entertainment never quit.
Another of Ringelstetter’s favorite places throughout this tour was Littleton, Colorado. It seems that the romance of art shows is dying across the country, but Littleton caters to its artists in a way that makes them feel like the rock stars that they are, creating a fun and enthralling experience for all. Ringelstetter flew his dad and his brother (from separate states) down to enjoy the show with him, and as always he was reminded of the peace that family can bring to you during trying times.
Ringelstetter put on twenty nine thousand, eight hundred and sixty five miles for this tour and he has dubbed it “The Year of Survival” because it was a constant test to see if he could pull together the funds to make it to the next stop. While this tour was more work than it was worth, Ringelstetter is still happy he signed up for as many stops as he did because otherwise he wouldn’t have been able to get by. This tour brought a mixture of emotions and constant challenges, but despite the external factors Ringelstetter continued his mission and realized the lengths he would go to in order to follow his passion.
On Halloween 2018, Ringelstetter participated in a fundraiser held by the Spring Green Area Arts Coalition at the Shed restaurant. The goal was to raise money for artists in the community, and the theme was ”Painting Monsters with Nick”. Ringelstetter knew that he would be using all of the characters each of the twenty participants had created to paint a new original, but at the time he didn’t know that he would be spending three months on it.
The choice was between creating three new originals before Ringelstetter left for his Florida tour, or to put his all into this one painting. Since it was for the kids, Ringelstetter decided to take this painting a step further and make it three dimensional and black light reactive. The results were something that has never been done before in the art world, thanks in great part to every individual who partook in the event.
