INFINITY-N-BEYOND

“Infinity-N-Beyond” By Nick Ringelstetter

As I’m sure you could tell with even the slightest of glances, a lot of factors went into this piece. While Nick was on his second art tour in Florida he managed to stay quite busy, and as any artist knows, this is both a blessing and a curse. While Nick was certainly doing a fantastic job of pushing his art and getting his name out to the world, he didn’t have a lot of time to create anything new, and because of his lack of space, when he did have the time most of the things he worked on were small. He planned to take all of the smaller creations and turn them into something much bigger when he was able to get back to his studio in Wisconsin.

As the pieces started to come together in his mind, he began to realize the similarities this new idea shared with “Tank The Clown” painting. It was as if what he was envisioning was the new and improved Clown painting, all grown up and packed full of the last eight years of artistic experience.

That alone could have been motive enough, but the real driving force for this painting was a somewhat negative experience Nick had while he was still in Florida. One day when Nick was at his booth a man approached and began to talk to Nick about his own career and income for quite sometime. Being the kind and friendly type that Nick is, he listened to the man for what turned out to be far too long. Rather than perhaps presenting an opportunity, as it had seemed that was the direction the conversation was going, the man closed his speech by telling Nick that he didn’t stand a chance at making money in this game because Nick’s paintings were too busy.

The conversation with this strange man left a sour taste in Nick’s mouth, but he soon found a way to turn this unpleasant encounter into fuel for the creative fire. When he returned to Wisconsin he decided that he would make the busiest piece of his career and integrate multiple focal points and characters from his mind and life.

The most notable subject in this piece is the Mr. Potato Head, Buzz Lightyear, Pineapple combo. It is said that every person that approaches Nick’s booth and sees his painting brings up this character first, and Nick is sure to make it clear that despite the popular rumor, Spongebob Squarepants had nothing to do with the inspiration for this piece. Pineapples have been a favorite of Nick’s for a long time and he’s happy to find that they’re no longer a trending subject, found plastered on everything in drugstores and Walmarts. Without the influence of this trend Nick feels comfortable going forth with this character as somewhat of a trademark, so I think it is safe to say that we can hope to see this intriguing creature in future works.