SPRING GREEN

Spring Green By Nick Ringelstetter

Inspired to create a tribute to his hometown, Spring Green, Wisconsin, Ringelstetter carried this piece with him throughout his entire 2019 tour. Whenever he found a free moment at his shows he would paint live for the patrons. It began in Cocoa Beach, Florida, and it represents three different phases of Ringelstetter’s life in relation to Spring Green.

The Tree of Creativity on the left with the caged frog represents the artist’s younger years and how he felt stuck despite his big ideas. He felt imprisoned by his town because, despite it being a great place filled with many other artists, the town itself found its own ways to hold Ringelstetter back. When Ringelstetter finally hit his breaking point he packed up his van and headed off in search of a place he felt he could really thrive, he became the spaceman, full of wonder and eager for the next adventure. At the bottom you can find a skeleton, which depicts Ringelstetter’s plans of one day retiring back to his hometown and living out the rest of his life peacefully.

Ringelstetter is eternally grateful for the support of his hometown, and he has included a few of the iconic Spring Green locals, landmarks, and businesses to express his gratitude. The big purple monster with the guitar represents Don Greenwood, a local musician who can often be spotted serenading the townspeople throughout the community.  The tower in the background was inspired by the Frank Lloyd Wright “Romeo and Juliet” tower. Ringelstetter was never much of a fan, but the story behind the towers has stuck with him since he learned about it during his early years. Learning that Wright built two towers, one that couldn’t stand on its own and needed the support of another, reminded Ringelstetter that success is possible when you have good people supporting you.

The skulls at the bottom of the painting symbolize those who never made it out of their small town because they were too afraid to leave. Ringelstetter tries to preach branching out to his younger fans because he wants them to know that there’s a whole world waiting for them out there. The blue guy in the suit and tie all by himself is the guy that always gave you flak, the one who said everything you didn’t want to hear and pointed out the reality of your dreams. He was the guy who was always doing his best to prepare you for the hard parts of your future, even when you didn’t like him that much, and he’s proud to see how far you’ve come.

The tree with the ears growing out of it represent a time in Ringelstetter’s life when he felt he was being instructed to listen by the Universe. One of the other things you can find in this piece is the Shed restaurant, a place that holds a special place in the artists heart as not only a staple of his childhood, but of his family as well. The bridges were inspired by the highway 23 and 14 bridges that lead to Spring Green, and the structure behind them is Ringelstetter’s fantasy “mad scientist” lab, as he’s always dreamed of being able to create such a place in real life. And of course, you can find the numbers “3,7,9” in this piece as this is the sequence that’s been guiding the artist for ages, and it has never let him down.