Robert Nava’s paintings are often met with divisive reactions. His rough and freehand approach to painting reminds the viewer of innocent and amateurish doodles drawn in childhood. It has been said that his works are ‘carefully done wrong’ and that this quick approach to image making is a deliberate and studied comment on the conventions and fundamentals of painting as a practice.
In his childhood, Nava mastered traditional methods of painting and rendering. He departed from this trajectory completely as he developed his iconic style during his studies. In an interview with Hypebeast, he remarks: ‘When I was 12 or 13, I could already draw and paint like Velasquez, but it took me a lifetime to learn how to draw like a kid again.’
The subjects in Nava’s paintings reflect boyish childhood fixations, ranging from sharks, toys, hybrid animals, and dragons. In Speartooth Rain Maker (2020), he paints the profile of a shark with three tiers of mouths. A rain cloud hovers over the shark’s head as the animal floats in the sky. Lightning Wolf Skull Rider (2020), on the other hand, features an amalgamation of a dragon and a wolf with a winged skeleton riding its body while wielding a sword. These explorations are marked by Nava’s desire to create new myths, drawing inspiration from source material such as works by sculptor Huma Bhabha, cartoons, and prehistoric cave paintings.
Nava plays with speed in his works. His fastest composition was completed in a mere 27 seconds. Swiftly illustrated with a vibrant and dynamic use of spray paint, acrylics, and grease pencil as techno music blares in the background, Nava’s large-scale canvases are often compared to those of Jean-Michel Basquiat, Cy Twombly, and Jean Dubuffet.
While his paintings receive mixed criticism for their style and process, collectors have often remarked on the ability of Nava’s work to evoke a sense of nostalgia and sincerity.
